
Fire Island is the large center island of the
outer barrier islands parallel to the
South Shore of
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
in the U.S.
state of New York.
In 2012,
Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two islands are about long and vary between wide. The land area of Fire Island is .
[ Consisting of the Fire Island CDP plus the villages of Saltaire and Ocean Beach: ] The majority of the island's land is protected by
Fire Island National Seashore which was created in 1964 in response to a protest movement against the construction of a highway through the island. Today life for Fire Island visitors and residents is defined by restrictions on personal automobile use meant to preserve the island's unique character and ecosystems.
Fire Island is part of
Suffolk County. It lies within the towns of
Babylon
Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
,
Islip, and
Brookhaven, containing two
villages and several
hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
. All parts of the island not within village limits are part of the Fire Island
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP), which had a permanent population of 777 at the
2020 census, though that expands to thousands of residents and tourists during the summer. The neighborhoods of
Cherry Grove and
Fire Island Pines are known as
gay-friendly tourist destinations.
History
Etymology
The origin of Fire Island's name is uncertain. It is believed its Native American name was ("Land of the Secatogues"). The
Secatogues were a tribe in the area of the current
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
of
Islip. It was part of what was also called the "Seal Islands".
The name of Fire Island first appeared on a deed in 1789.
[National Park Service history](_blank)
Retrieved November 2, 2007.
Historian Richard Bayles suggests that the name derives from a misinterpretation or corruption of the
Dutch word ("five"), or in another version ("four"), referring to the number of islands near the Fire Island inlet, a view echoed by
Robert Caro, who suggests in ''
The Power Broker'' that the island was named to reflect four inlets that have since disappeared. At times histories have referred to it in the plural, as "Fire Islands", because of the inlet breaks.
Other versions say the island derived its name from fires built on the sea's edge by Native Americans or by pirates to lure unsuspecting ships into the sandbars. Another version says that coastal guards, looking out for ships during WW2, lit fires as a signal when they ran out of supplies so that they could get more delivered from the mainland. Some say it is how portions of the island look to be on fire from sea in autumn. Yet another version says it comes from the rash caused by
poison ivy
Poison ivy is a type of allergenic plant in the genus '' Toxicodendron'' native to Asia and North America. Formerly considered a single species, '' Toxicodendron radicans'', poison ivies are now generally treated as a complex of three separate s ...
on the island.
While the western portion of the island was referred to as Fire Island for many years, the eastern portion was referred to as Great South Beach until 1920, when widespread development caused the whole land mass to be called Fire Island.
Settlement

Indigenous Native Americans lived on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
and Fire Island for many centuries before Europeans arrived. There exists a myth that the islands were occupied by "thirteen tribes" "neatly divided into thirteen tribal units, beginning with the
Canarsie who lived in present-day
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
and ending with the
Montauk on the far eastern end of the island." But modern
ethnographic research indicates that before the European invasion, Long Island and Fire Island were occupied by "indigenous groups
..organized into village systems with varying levels of social complexity. They lived in small communities that were connected in an intricate web of kinship relations
..there were probably no native peoples living in tribal systems on Long Island until after the Europeans arrived.
..The communities appear to have been divided into two general culture areas that overlapped in the area known today as the
Hempstead Plains
The Hempstead Plains is a region of central Long Island, in what is now Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, in New York State. It was once an open expanse of native grassland estimated to once extend to about . It was separated from the Nort ...
.. The western groups spoke the
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
-
Munsee dialect of
Algonquian and shared cultural characteristics such as the
longhouse
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
Many were built from lumber, timber and ...
system of social organization with their brethren in what is now New Jersey and Delaware. The linguistic affiliation of the eastern groups is less well understood
..Goddard
..concluded that the languages here are related to the southern
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
Algonquian dialects, but he could only speculate on the nature of these relationships
.. Working with a few brief vocabulary lists of Montauk and
Unquachog, he suggested that the Montauk might be related to
Mohegan-Pequot and the Unquachog might possibly be grouped with the
Quiripi of western Connecticut. The information on the
Shinnecock was too sparse for any determination
..The most common pattern of indigenous life on Long Island prior to the intervention of the whites was the autonomous village linked by kinship to its neighbors."
"Most of the 'tribal' names with which we are now familiar do not appear to have been recognized by either the first European observers or by the original inhabitants until the process of land purchases began after the first settlements were established. We simply do not know what these people called themselves, but all the ethnographic data on North American Indian cultures suggest that they identified themselves in terms of lineage and clan membership.
..The English and Dutch were frustrated by this lack of structure because it made land purchase so difficult. Deeds, according to the European concept of property, had to be signed by identifiable owners with authority to sell and have specific boundaries on a map. The relatively amorphous leadership structure of the Long Island communities, the imprecise delineation of hunting ground boundaries, and their view of the land as a living entity to be used rather than owned made conventional European real estate deals nearly impossible to negotiate. The surviving primary records suggest that the Dutch and English remedied this situation by pressing cooperative local sachems to establish a more structured political base in their communities and to define their communities as "tribes" with specific boundaries
..The Montauk, under the leadership of
Wyandanch in the mid-seventeenth century, and the
Matinnecock, under the sachems
Suscaneman and
Tackapousha, do appear to have developed rather tenuous coalitions as a result of their contact with the English settlers."
"An early example of
uropeanintervention into Native American political institutions is a 1664 agreement wherein the
East Hampton and
Southampton
Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
officials appointed a sunk squaw named
Quashawam to govern both the Shinnecock and the Montauk."
*
William "Tangier" Smith held title to the entire island in the 17th century, under a royal patent from
Thomas Dongan. The remnants of Smith's
Manor of St. George are open to the public in
Shirley, New York. "On May 25, 1691 Col. William "Tangier" Smith purchased from the Indian, John Mayhew the enormous acreage, later to be known as the Manor of St. George. He then set aside 175 acres of the land occupied by the
Unkechaug Indians on the west side of the
Mastic (Forge) River at Poosepatuck Creek to be theirs for the annual rent of two ears of corn. The
Poosepatuck Indian Reservation is still in existence today, however it has shrunk to 55 acres due to unscrupulous land dealings by early officials."
* The first large house was built in 1795 in Cherry Grove by Jeremiah Smith. Smith was said to have lured ships to their doom and killed the crews.
* In the early 19th century when
slavery in New York was still legal, slave runners built stockades on the island by the Fire Island Inlet.
* The first Fire Island Lighthouse was built in 1825 and was replaced by the current lighthouse in 1858.
* In 1855, David S. S. Sammis bought near the Fire Island Lighthouse and built the Surf Hotel at what today is Kismet. Sammis operated the hotel until 1892, when the state took it over. In 1908, it became the first state park on Long Island.
* In 1868, Archer and Elizabeth Perkinson bought the land around Cherry Grove and
Fire Island Pines. They built a hotel in 1880.
* In 1887, the
Life-Saving Service established 11 staffed lifesaving stations on the island.
* In 1892, troops were called out to suppress a potential riot at Democrat Point over a cholera panic.
* In 1908, Ocean Beach was established, followed by Saltaire in 1910.
* In 1921, the Perkinsons sold the land around Cherry Grove in small lots. Bungalows from the newly closed
Camp Upton in
Yaphank were ferried over the Great South Bay to build the new community.
Duffy's Hotel was built in 1930.
* The
Great Hurricane of 1938 devastated much of the island and made it appear undesirable to many. However, Duffy's Hotel remained relatively undamaged. According to legend, the gay population began to concentrate in Cherry Grove at Duffy's Hotel with
Christopher Isherwood and
W. H. Auden dressed as
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...
and
Ganymede and carried aloft on a gilded
litter
Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The waste is objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles, but ...
by a group of singing followers. The gay influence was continued in the 1960s when male model
John B. Whyte developed
Fire Island Pines. The Pines currently has some of the most expensive property on the island and accounts for two-thirds of the island's swimming pools.
* In 1964,
Robert Moses built the
Captree Causeway to the western end of the island. Opponents, fearing that this was the beginning of plans for the continuation of
Ocean Parkway, which would have run down the middle of the island, organized and eventually stopped the parkway.
* In September 1964,
Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...
signed a bill creating
Fire Island National Seashore.
As gay village
When New York's
artistic bohème began frequenting Fire Island during the
Jazz Age,
Ocean Beach became the locale's first
gay village
A gay village, also known as a gayborhood or gaybourhood, is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. Gay vil ...
.
Tensions between the gay (often famous) tourists and locals peaked when
Antoine de Paris built an
outhouse, complete with a revealing saloon door, on his land across the street from a Catholic church. Villagers arranged a provocation by sending a teenage boy to "seduce" one of Antoine's guests, and after catching the guest ''
in flagrante'', they
burned down Antoine's property.
After the
Great Hurricane of 1938 devastated the island, the middle class moved to Saltaire, while the gay community settled in Cherry Grove.
Both Cherry Grove and
Fire Island Pines were established gay enclaves by the 1950s, connected by a notorious
cruising area nicknamed the Meat Rack.
The party-filled culture of the pre-
HIV/AIDS
The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
1970s is portrayed in
Andrew Holleran's 1978 novel ''
Dancer from the Dance''. The Botel (today the Grove Hotel) was gay-friendly and ran popular
afternoon "tea dances". Cherry Grove calls itself "America's First Gay and Lesbian Town". Fire Island has "an iconic gay scene" and the Grove Hotel is New York State's only hotel that prohibits those under 21 on the premises; this is legal because the hotel's entrance is through a bar.
Fire Island: A Century in the Life of an American Paradise by
Jack Parlett, and
Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America's First Gay and Lesbian Town by
Esther Newton chronicle the gay history of Fire Island. The gay subculture of Fire Island in the 1970s and 1980s is depicted in
Faggots by
Larry Kramer, and
And The Band Played On by
Randy Shilts The portrayal of promiscuous sex and recreational drug use provoked controversy and was condemned by some elements within the gay community.
2009: Beach renourishment
A 2009
beach renourishment program was credited with saving the island from the full effects of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
In the winter and spring of 2009, a beach renourishment project was undertaken on Fire Island, with the cooperation of the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Towns of Brookhaven and Islip, and Fire Island residents. The program involved dredging sand from an offshore borrow area, pumping it onto the beach, and shaping the sand into an approved beach face and dune template in front of the communities of Corneille Estates, Davis Park, Dunewood, Fair Harbor,
Fire Island Pines, Fire Island Summer Club, Lonelyville, Ocean Bay Park,
Ocean Beach,
Saltaire, and Seaview. Fire Islanders agreed to a significant
property tax
A property tax (whose rate is expressed as a percentage or per mille, also called ''millage'') is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or Wealth t ...
increase to help pay for the project, which was estimated to cost between $23 and $25 million ($6,020 per housing unit), including the cost of environmental monitoring, and was expected to add of sand in front of the participating communities. The Towns of Brookhaven and Islip, in which the communities are located, issued bonds to pay for the project, backed by the new taxes levied by community Erosion Control Taxing Districts.
2012: Hurricane Sandy
The island was heavily damaged by the high tides associated with
Hurricane Sandy in 2012, including three breaches around Smith Point County Park on the sparsely populated eastern end of the island. The biggest breach, and politically the most difficult one to deal with because it is in a wilderness area, is at
Old Inlet in the
Otis Pike Wilderness Area just west of
Smith Point County Park. Old Inlet is at the site of previous breaches (which have come and gone on their own) and was wide after the storm on the south end and on February 28, 2013. Officials have been debating whether to close the breach and let nature take its course, as it has been flushing out the Great South Bay and improving water quality. But residents of the bayfront communities noted increased flooding after the storm. This was later found to be the result of several nor'easters and unrelated to the breaches. As of 2018, the breach remained open. Officials have moved to close the other two breaches, which are on either side of
Moriches Inlet—one in Cupsogue County Park and the other in Smith Point County Park.
Reports indicated that 80 percent of the homes, particularly those on the east end, were flooded, and 90 homes were completely destroyed. The storm also tore away about 75 feet of the dune coastline. But Fire Island was not hit as hard as other areas, with most of the 4,500 homes on the island surviving even if damaged, and significant home reconstruction has taken place. Officials credited the dune replenishment program with helping to spare the island.
Geography
Fire Island lies on average off the South Shore of Long Island, but nearly touches it along the
East End. It is separated from Long Island by the
Great South Bay, which spans interconnected bays along Long Island:
Patchogue Bay,
Bellport Bay,
Narrow Bay, and
Moriches Bay.
The island and its resort communities are accessible by boat, seaplane, and a number of
ferries
A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus.
...
, which run across the bay from
Patchogue,
Bay Shore, and
Sayville, to more than 10 points on the island.
The island is accessible by automobile near each end: via
Robert Moses Causeway on its western end, and by William Floyd Parkway (
Suffolk County Road 46) near its eastern end. Motor vehicles are not permitted on the rest of the island, except for utility, construction and emergency access and with limited beach-driving permits in winter.
Fire Island is located at 40°39′35″ north, 73°5′23″ west ().
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, it has a land area of .
In 1834,
Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, a Swiss-American
surveyor, measured at Fire Island the first
baseline of the
Survey of the Coast, shortly before
Louis Puissant declared to the
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
in 1836 that
Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre
Jean Baptiste Joseph, chevalier Delambre (19 September 1749 – 19 August 1822) was a French mathematician, astronomer, historian of astronomy, and geodesist. He was also director of the Paris Observatory, and author of well-known books on the ...
and
Pierre Méchain
Pierre François André Méchain (; 16 August 1744 – 20 September 1804) was a French astronomer and surveyor who, with Charles Messier, was a major contributor to the early study of deep-sky objects and comets.
Life
Pierre Méchain was bo ...
had made errors in the
meridian arc measurement, which had been used to determine the length of the metre.
Historical modifications
The island's physical attributes have changed over time, and continue to change. At one point it stretched more than from
Jones Beach Island to
Southampton
Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
.
Around 1683,
Fire Island Inlet broke through, separating it from Jones Beach Island.
[Thompson, B. F. (1839). ''History of Long Island; containing an account of the discovery and settlement; with other important and interesting matters to the present time''. New York, E. French.]
The Fire Island Inlet grew to in width before receding. The
Fire Island Lighthouse was built in 1858, right on the inlet, but Fire Island's western terminus at Democrat Point has steadily moved west so that the lighthouse today is from the inlet.
Fire Island separated from Southampton in a 1931
Nor'easter
A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low ...
when
Moriches Inlet broke through. The inlet widened on September 21, 1938. Moriches Inlet and efforts by local communities east of Fire Island to protect their beachfront with
jetties have led to an interruption in the
longshore drift of sand going from east to west and are blamed for erosion of the Fire Island beachfront. Between these major breaks there have been reports over the years of at least six inlets that broke through the island but have since disappeared.
Landmarks and preserves
Except for the western of the island, the island is protected as part of
Fire Island National Seashore.
Robert Moses State Park, occupying the remaining western portion of the island, is one of the popular recreational destinations in the New York City area. The
Fire Island Light stands just east of Robert Moses State Park.
A memorial to
TWA 800, dedicated in June 2002, is on the eastern end, at
Smith Point County Park, near where the airplane crashed at sea.
Locations
Towns are listed below from west to east, communities within each town are listed alphabetically.
Town of Babylon
*
Fire Island Inlet
*
Robert Moses State Park (part)
Town of Islip

*
Atlantique
*
Corneille Estates
*
Dunewood
*
Fair Harbor
*
Fire Island Light
*
Fire Island Summer Club
*
Kismet
*
Lonelyville
*
Ocean Beach (village)
*
Robert Moses State Park (park)
*
Robbins Rest
*
Saltaire (village)
*
Seabay Beach
*
Seaview
Town of Brookhaven
*
Bellport Beach
*
Blue Point Beach
*
Cherry Grove
*
Davis Park/Ocean Ridge
*
Fire Island Pines
*
Moriches Inlet
*
Oakleyville
*
Ocean Bay Park
*
Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness
*
Point O'Woods
*
Smith Point County Park
*
Sunken Forest
*
Talisman/Barrett Beach
*
Watch Hill, National Park Service facility in the central part of the island, including a public marina, camp ground visitor center, and nature trail
*
Water Island
Small islands in the vicinity
The following are associated islands in the Fire Island National Seashore Jurisdiction, from west to east:
*
Sexton Island, a small island across from the Fire Island Lighthouse with approximately 20 small, private, summer houses. There is no ferry service or electrical service.
*
West Fire Island, a small island with about a dozen houses. It has no telephone or electrical service.
*
East Fire Island, another longer and larger island next to West Fire Island. East Fire Island, unlike West Fire Island, is uninhabited. People are allowed, although there is no ferry service and the only way to get there is on your own boat.
* Ridge Island
*
Pelican Island
*
John Boyle Island
*
Hospital Island
Other locations
*
Clam Pond, a small cove between Saltaire and Fair Harbor
Inhabitants
Fire Island's population varies seasonally. There are few residents in winter months, with the population rising in the late spring to early fall.
Housing is mostly
stick-built bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...
-style. Some are beachfront, built on the dunes of the Atlantic Ocean, while others are on boardwalks or concrete walks, like a miniaturized city. For year-round residents, there are schools, churches, shops and even a school bus service to the mainland of Long Island via an off-road modified school bus.
The quiet villages on Fire Island provide solitude, while the larger towns provide a more social atmosphere with clubs, bars and open air dining. Two of these,
Fire Island Pines and
Cherry Grove, are destinations for
LGBTQ
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...
vacationers.
The incorporated villages of
Ocean Beach and
Saltaire within Fire Island National Seashore are
car-free during the summer tourist season (
Memorial Day through Labor Day) and permit only pedestrian and bicycle traffic (during certain hours only in Ocean Beach). For off-season use, there are a limited number of driving permits for year-round residents and contractors. The hamlet of
Davis Park allows no vehicles or bicycles year-round.
In 1992 Diane Ketcham of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' noted that due to the lack of retail, entertainment, and television options, especially in the winter, area children often felt bored and therefore felt excited to attend school.
Demographics
As of the
2000 United States Census,
491 people, 138 households, and 77 families resided on Fire Island. The population density was 52.82/mi
2 (21.82/km
2). There were 4,153 housing units, at an average density of 478.1/mi
2 (184.6/km
2). The racial makeup of the town was 96.77%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.65%
Asian, 0.32%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.65% from
other races, and 1.61% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 2.90% of the population.
There were 138 households on Fire Island, out of which 25.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.6% were married couples living together, 2.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.2% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.90.
Fire Island's population was spread out, with 20.6% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 33.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 133.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 143.6 males.
The median income for a household on Fire Island was $73,281, and the median income for a family was $83,672. Males had a median income of $46,875 versus $41,429 for females. The per capita income for Fire Island was $43,681. 0.0% of families and 3.1% of individuals were below the poverty line, including 0.0% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.
Famous summer residents
After the Manhattan theater community began staying on Fire Island during the 1920s, the island had numerous summer celebrity residents.
*
Gary Beach, Tony award-winning actor
*
Fanny Brice
Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedian, Illustrated Songs, illustrated song model, singer, and actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. Sh ...
, actress, whose house in Ocean Beach is home to the OB Youth Group
*
Mel Brooks
Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodie ...
wrote, with Carl Reiner, the "2000 Year Old Man" in their home on the beach.
*
James Kenneth Campbell, lawyer and longtime
Saltaire Village Justice
*
Barbara Corcoran, investor, TV personality
*
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. Known for her comedic roles in sketch comedy, television and film, Fey has received List of awards and nominations received by Tina Fe ...
, creator of ''30 Rock'', stays during the summer at Fair Harbor and Ocean Beach
*
Henry Fonda, actor, built a summer home in the Pines.
*
Wolcott Gibbs, theater critic of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
''
*
Samuel Adams Green, art dealer
*
Joseph Heller
*
Ring Lardner, Jr.
*
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
, of the Beatles; the piano he shipped to the island is currently at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio
*
Joan McCracken, dancer, who spent much of her final years there
*
Kevin Nash
Kevin Scott Nash (born July 9, 1959) is an American actor, podcaster and retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE under a legends contract. He is also known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Ac ...
, professional wrestler
*
Christopher Noth, known for his acting in ''Sex and the City'' and ''Law and Order'', stays in Ocean Beach in the summer
*
Frank O'Hara, writer, poet, art critic, curator at Museum of Modern Art; died after being struck by a dune buggy on Fire Island.
*
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, author, comedian, director and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. He was the List of awards and nominations received by Carl Reiner, recipient of many awards and ...
, writer, completed the first season of ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' scripts while living on Fire Island
*
Lea Thompson, ''
Back to the Future
''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...
'' star, and her director husband
Howard Deutch
*
Herman Wouk, writer, responsible for the construction of the Fire Island Synagogue in Seaview
Emergency services
Fire Island's unique location and constantly changing geography play a major role in the protection of its citizens. Although it is served by ten fire departments and two police departments, the seasonal residency and remote driving distance are a challenge to the public safety community. Because there are no roads on inhabited Fire Island, fire department vehicles are heavily modified
four-wheel drive
A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...
with
suspension lifts, large diameter off-road tires and recovery equipment, which allow them to traverse the sometimes washed-out, loose sand.
Until 1986, there was no ambulance service on Fire Island, prompting the village of Saltaire to form its rescue company, later followed by Ocean Beach, and then in the 2000s with
Fair Harbor. Due to relatively close distances, fire departments on Fire Island are obliged to provide
mutual aid
Mutual aid is an organizational model where voluntary, collaborative exchanges of resources and services for common benefit take place amongst community members to overcome social, economic, and political barriers to meeting common needs. This ...
to neighboring communities. Some coastal fire departments on Long Island have fully equipped marine rescue and
fireboat
A fireboat or Fire-float Pyronaut, fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with ...
units which can cross the
Great South Bay to provide necessary assistance.
Fire Island's corps of off-road-capable fire apparatus and the firefighters' training to use them effectively provide much-needed support in the event of a
wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
, as was illustrated in the
Long Island Central Pine Barrens fires of 1995.
Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, Southside Hospital, and Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center are located directly across the Great South Bay from Fire Island in the Long Island hamlets of
West Islip,
Bay Shore, and the village of
Patchogue, respectively. A heliport for medevac helicopter use is adjacent to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center. Specially equipped boats provided by the
Suffolk County Police Department Marine Bureau docked at the various communities on Fire Island provide emergency transportation to individuals in need of dire medical care. In many cases, Long Island based ambulances will meet the boats once they cross the Bay (roughly 4.5 miles) and then drive individuals the short distance to one of the three hospitals. Also, one emergency access road connects Long Island (West Islip) to Fire Island (Kismet). However, the road ends there and does not extend the full length of the island into the other communities.
The
Suffolk County Police Department Marine Bureau is the primary law enforcement agency.
Ocean Beach also has its own dedicated police department. Criminal proceedings are handled by Suffolk District Court, and arrestees go to the 3rd, 1st or 5th precinct, or to one of the
Suffolk County Sheriff's Office jails. Small claims and property matters are usually handled by the individual village of case origin. It is common practice for police to write tickets then send unruly visitors off the island via
water taxi, at the offender's expense.
The
Suffolk County Park Police and
New York State Park Police
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP) is a government agency, state agency within the New York State Executive DepartmentParks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Law § 3.03. "The office of parks, ...
patrol the
Robert Moses State Park, while the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
is stationed at the
Fire Island Light and
Fire Island National Seashore.
The
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
has a base on Fire Island and provides aerial and nautical patrols to the Fire Island National Seashore as well as all beaches in the area. One of the oldest Coast Guard stations in America, Station No. 25 has been in uninterrupted operation since 1849.
Education
School districts that cover the island include:
*
Fire Island Union Free School District which operates Woodhull School (PK-6)
** Students who graduate from Woodhull can choose to go to either the
Bay Shore School District or the
Islip School District for secondary levels.
The respective high schools are
Bay Shore High School and
Islip High School.
*
William Floyd Union Free School District
*
Center Moriches Union Free School District
*
East Moriches Union Free School District
* (for
West Hampton Dunes)
Remsenburg-Speonk Union Free School District
In popular culture
* The 1955 novel ''
Auntie Mame'' by
Patrick Dennis uses a Fire Island reference to emphasize that the eponymous character keeps "queer" company.
* The August 1965 feature "
Shel Silverstein on Fire Island" appeared in ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'' magazine, with humorous quips about the gay club scene there.
* The 1969 film ''
Last Summer'' by
Frank Perry, adapted by Eleanor Perry from the
Evan Hunter novel about a summer of sexual discovery on Fire Island, brought an
Oscar nomination for actress
Catherine Burns.
* The pioneering 1971 gay pornographic film ''
Boys in the Sand'' by
Wakefield Poole was filmed on Fire Island.
* American writer
Patricia Nell Warren locates parts of her 1974 best-selling novel ''
The Front Runner'' on the Island, as well as parts of the 1994 sequel ''Harlan's Race''.
* The 1975 Brian Eno album ''
Another Green World'' features the song "Over Fire Island".
* Fire Island features in the 1975 best-selling novel ''
Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' by
Judith Rossner.
* The
Village People included a song titled "Fire Island" on their
1977 debut album; the song refers to the island as "a funky weekend" and mention several locations on the island such as the Ice Palace, the Monster, the Blue Whale, and the Sandpiper.
*
Rob Halford, lead singer of the
heavy metal band
Judas Priest, sings about a visit to a leather bar on "New York's Fire Island" in the song "Raw Deal" on the 1977 release ''
Sin After Sin''.
* The song "
Come to Me" has been described as "the definitive Fire Island dance classic" because of the legendary July 7, 1979, Fire Island concert performance by 16-year-old
France Joli for an oceanfront audience of 5,000 (after
Donna Summer cancelled at the last minute, Joli stepped in as a replacement and became an overnight sensation).
* The 1980 teen novel ''My First Love and Other Disasters'' by
Francine Pascal takes place largely on Fire Island, where the protagonist, Victoria Martin, is working as a mother's helper. (Francine Pascal: Dell, 1980)
* Fire Island is mentioned in the 1988 comedy
''Big Business''.
* Fire Island is the setting of the 1991
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," M ...
play ''
Lips Together, Teeth Apart''.
* The song "Pretty Deep" on the 1997 album ''
Lovesongs for Underdogs'' by
Tanya Donelly refers to a visit to Fire Island.
* Fire Island is repeatedly referenced on the
NBC sitcom ''
Will & Grace'', first broadcast in 1998.
* ''When Ocean Meets Sky'', a 2003 documentary detailing the 50-year history of the
Fire Island Pines community, includes much previously unseen archival footage.
* The 2003 album ''
Welcome Interstate Managers'' by
Fountains of Wayne
Fountains of Wayne is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in New York City in 1995. The band included founding members Chris Collingwood, Adam Schlesinger, Jody Porter, and Brian Young (drummer), Brian Young. They released six album ...
featured the song "Fire Island" about two siblings' home-alone shenanigans while their parents vacation on the island.
* The song "Gay Messiah" on the 2004 album ''
Want Two'' by
Rufus Wainwright makes a reference to the popularity of Fire Island for gay and lesbian tourists, remarking that when the "gay messiah" comes, "He will fall from the star / of
Studio 54
Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...
/ and appear on the sand / of Fire Island's shore".
* Fire Island serves dual meanings as both a vacation destination and a
homoerotic euphemism in the 2004 book ''
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim'' by
David Sedaris.
* The
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...
''Beach Comber'' was filmed on Fire Island in 2004.
* The 2006
ABC reality show ''
One Ocean View'' was shot on Fire Island.
* Fire Island is featured prominently in the 2008
Ann Brashares
Ann Brashares (born July 30, 1967) is an American Young adult fiction, young adult novelist. She is best known as the author of ''The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'' series.
Life and career
Brashares was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and gr ...
novel ''
The Last Summer (of You and Me)
''The Last Summer (of You and Me)'' is a novel written by Ann Brashares. Her first novel for adults, and her first outside of her acclaimed ''The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Traveling Pants'' series, it was released on June 6, 2007 by Ri ...
'', about two sisters and a friend who grow up together, vacationing on the island every summer.
* The 2019 mystery film ''
Last Ferry'' features a gay tourist visiting the Fire Island in search of fun and adventure, who arrives during the off-season.
* The 2022 rom-com ''
Fire Island
Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York.
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two isl ...
'' features a group of gay friends on a weeklong vacation to the locale.
* ''
American Horror Story: NYC'' includes the locale during the series, featuring gay characters in 1981, with the particular "Fire Island" episode airing November 9, 2022.
* Episode 7 of the 2023 television miniseries ''
Fellow Travelers (miniseries)'' features main characters, two gay men, on Fire Island during the 70s.
* In 2024, actor
Brian J. Smith released ''
A House Is Not a Disco'', a documentary film about LGBT culture on the island.
Local folklore
Fire Island's landscapes have inspired numerous myths and legends over the last several centuries and multiple books have been written on the topic of Fire Island lore.
Many of these stories take advantage of the island's history of shipwrecks and piracy to weave exciting tales of tragic ghosts and hidden treasures beneath the sand.
The
Fire Island Lighthouse is particularly prominent in the mythology of this island and is rumored to be haunted. Legend has it that the historic structure is home to the ghosts of a lighthouse keeper and his daughter who died under tragic circumstances. The story goes that the daughter got sick and died before he could get medical help from the mainland. The father was then stricken with grief and responded to the tragedy by hanging himself in the lighthouse tour. It is also said that the ghosts of numerous shipwreck victims haunt the lighthouse and the shores of the island in general including the ghost of
Margaret Fuller. On January 7, 2022, seven paranormal enthusiasts were allowed to spend the night investigating the lighthouse for paranormal activity, and the supposedly supernatural images and videos they captured were later published by Fire Island & Great South Bay News.
More recently a new legend of a new species of eight-foot long giant horseshoe crab taking up residence in the Great South Bay has been popularized by an April Fool's Day article. The cryptid story has since spread across the internet and further enriched the lore of Fire Island and the surrounding region. It is said that the giant Great South Bay horseshoe crab first appeared in March 2025 and that its blood may be able to cure baldness and other diseases. The story is thought by many to satirize a decision by New York Governor
Kathy Hochul to veto a bill meant to protect the state's horseshoe crab population and actions taken by the Trump administration to cut the National Park Service budget.
See also
*
Fire Island National Seashore
*
Fire Island Inlet Bridge
*
Jones Beach Island
*
Great South Bay
References
External links
*
Fire Island National Seashore
{{authority control
Babylon (town), New York
Barrier islands of New York (state)
Beaches of Suffolk County, New York
Brookhaven, New York
Car-free islands of the United States
Census-designated places in Suffolk County, New York
Islands of Suffolk County, New York
Islip (town), New York
National seashores of the United States
Populated coastal places in New York (state)