Fire Island is the large center island of the

outer barrier The Outer Barrier, also known as the Long Island and New York City barrier islands, refers to the string of barrier islands that divide the lagoons south of Long Island, New York from the Atlantic Ocean. These islands include Long Beach Barrie ...

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 New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

. In 2012,

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

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 Saltaire is a Victorian model village near Shipley, West Yorkshire, England, situated between the River Aire, the railway, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Salts Mill and the houses were built by Titus Salt between 1851 and 1871 to allo ...

and Ocean Beach: The majority of the island's land is protected by

Fire Island National Seashore Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) is a United States National Seashore that protects a section of Fire Island, New York, Fire Island, an approximately long and wide barrier island separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay. The isla ...

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 Islip may refer to: Places England * Islip, Northamptonshire *Islip, Oxfordshire * Islip Manor Meadows United States *Islip, New York, a town in Suffolk County ** Islip (hamlet), New York, located in the above town **Central Islip, New York ...

, and Brookhaven, containing two

villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

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 Fire Island Pines (often referred to as ''The Pines'', simply ''Pines'', or ''FIP'') is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet in Brookhaven, New York, United States. It is located on Fire Island, a barrier island separated from the southern side of Long I ...

are known as

gay-friendly Gay-friendly or LGBTQ-friendly places, policies, people, or institutions are those that are open and welcoming to gay or LGBTQ people. They typically aim to create an environment that is supportive, respectful, and non-judgmental towards the L ...

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

Secatogue Mohegan-Pequot (also known as Mohegan-Pequot-Montauk, Secatogue, and Shinnecock-Poosepatuck; dialects in New England included Mohegan, Pequot, and Niantic; and on Long Island, Montaukett and Shinnecock) is an Algonquian language formerly spoke ...

s 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 ...

. 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
Retrieved November 2, 2007. Historian Richard Bayles suggests that the name derives from a misinterpretation or corruption of the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

word ("five"), or in another version ("four"), referring to the number of islands near the Fire Island inlet, a view echoed by

Robert Caro Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson. After working for many years as a reporter, Caro wrote '' The Power Bro ...

, who suggests in ''

The Power Broker ''The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York'' is a 1974 biography of Robert Moses by Robert Caro. The book focuses on the creation and use of power in New York politics of New York City, local and Politics of New York (state), sta ...

'' 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. 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

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 Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin, East 108th Street, and Louisiana Avenue; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on th ...

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 Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

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 The Munsee () are a subtribe and one of the three divisions of the Lenape. Historically, they lived along the upper portion of the Delaware River, the Minisink, and the adjacent country in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They were prom ...

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 Quiripi (pronounced , also known as Mattabesic, Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano) was an Algonquian language formerly spoken by the indigenous people of southwestern Connecticut and central Long Island,Rudes (1997:1)Goddard ( ...

, he suggested that the Montauk might be related to

Mohegan-Pequot Mohegan-Pequot (also known as Mohegan-Pequot-Montauk, Secatogue, and Shinnecock-Poosepatuck; dialects in New England included Mohegan, Pequot, and Niantic; and on Long Island, Montaukett and Shinnecock) is an Algonquian language formerly spoke ...

and the Unquachog might possibly be grouped with the

Quiripi Quiripi (pronounced , also known as Mattabesic, Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano) was an Algonquian language formerly spoken by the indigenous people of southwestern Connecticut and central Long Island,Rudes (1997:1)Goddard ( ...

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 Wyandanch (, ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 12,990 at the time of 2020 census. In the past, some or all of Wyandanch was proposed to become ...

in the mid-seventeenth century, and the Matinnecock, under the sachems Suscaneman and

Tackapousha Tackapausha – also spelled as Tackapousha – was a Lenape sachem, a successor of Penhawitz (his mother's brother, an important father-like figure in the Algonquian Matrilineality, matrilineal kinship system). Tackapousha represented a broad coal ...

, 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 William "Tangier" Smith (February 2, 1655 – February 18, 1705) was a governor of English Tangier, Tangier, on the coast of Morocco, and an early settler of Province of New York, New York who owned more than of Atlantic Ocean waterfront property ...

held title to the entire island in the 17th century, under a royal patent from

Thomas Dongan Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715) was an Irish military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New York from 1683 to 1688. He called the first representative legislature in the Province o ...

. The remnants of Smith's Manor of St. George are open to the public in

Shirley, New York Shirley is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. At the 2010 census, the population of Shirley was 27,854. Shirley is the western terminus of Atlantic Crossing 1, a major submarine telecommunicatio ...

. "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 Quiripi (pronounced , also known as Mattabesic, Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano) was an Algonquian language formerly spoken by the indigenous people of southwestern Connecticut and central Long Island,Rudes (1997:1)Goddard ( ...

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 The trafficking of enslaved Africans to what became New York began as part of the Dutch slave trade. The Dutch West India Company trafficked eleven enslaved Africans to New Amsterdam in 1626, with the first slave auction held in New Amsterdam i ...

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

. 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 Camp Upton was a port of embarkation of the United States Army during World War I. During World War II, it was used as an Army induction center, an internment camp for enemy aliens, and a hospital. It was located in Yaphank, New York, in Suffo ...

Yaphank Yaphank () is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,945 at the time of the 2010 census. Yaphank is located in the south part of the Town of Brookhaven. It is served by the ...

were ferried over the Great South Bay to build the new community. Duffy's Hotel was built in 1930. * The

Great Hurricane of 1938 The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great Long Island - New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike the United States. The storm formed near th ...

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 Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

and

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, ...

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

. 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 Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...

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

Shipwrecks

On 17 May 1850,

Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...

, her husband Ossoli, and their young son Angelino, began a five-week return voyage to the United States aboard the ship ''Elizabeth'', an American merchant freighter carrying cargo that included mostly marble from

Carrara Carrara ( ; ; , ) is a town and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey Carrara marble, marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, ...

. They set sail on May 17. At sea, the ship's captain, Seth Hasty, died of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

. Angelino contracted the disease and recovered. Possibly because of the inexperienced first mate now serving as captain, the ship slammed into a

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

less than 100 yards from Fire Island on July 19, 1850, around 3:30 am Many of the other passengers and crew members abandoned ship. The first mate, Mr. Bangs, urged Fuller and Ossoli to try to save themselves and their child as he himself jumped overboard, later claiming he believed Fuller had wanted to be left behind to die.Dickenson, 201 On the beach, people arrived with carts hoping to salvage any cargo washed ashore. None made any effort to rescue the crew or passengers of the ''Elizabeth'', though they were only 50 yards from shore. Most of those aboard attempted to swim to shore, leaving Fuller and Ossoli and Angelino some of the last on the ship. Ossoli was thrown overboard by a massive wave and, after the wave had passed, a crewman who witnessed the event said Fuller could not be seen.

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...

traveled to New York City at the urging of Emerson to search the shore, but neither Fuller's body nor that of her husband was ever recovered. Angelino's had washed ashore. Few of their possessions were found other than some of the child's clothes and a few letters. Fuller's manuscript on the rise and fall of the 1849 Roman Republic, which she described as "what is most valuable to me if I live of any thing",Marshall, xv was also lost. A memorial to Fuller was erected on the beach at Fire Island in 1901 through the efforts of

Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe ( ; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as new lyrics to an existing song, and the original 1870 pacifist Mothers' Day Proclamation. She w ...

. A

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

to Fuller and Ossoli, under which Angelino is buried, is in

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery, located in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, is the first rural or garden cemetery in the United States. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brahmins, and is a National Historic Landmark. Dedicated in ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. The inscription reads, in part:

As gay village

When New York's artistic bohème began frequenting Fire Island during the

Jazz Age The Jazz Age was a period from 1920 to the early 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles gained worldwide popularity. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. Originating in New O ...

, 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 Antoni Cierplikowski (Polish pronunciation: ; 24 December 1884 – 5 July 1976) was a Polish hairdresser who became the world's first celebrity hairdresser when he opened the salon Antoine de Paris in Paris and became known as Monsieur Antoi ...

built an

outhouse An outhouse — known variously across the English-speaking world otherwise as bog, dunny, long-drop, or privy — is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket ...

, 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 ''In flagrante delicto'' (Latin for "in blazing offence"), sometimes simply ''in flagrante'' ("in blazing"), is a legal term used to indicate that a criminal has been caught in the act of committing an offence (compare ). The colloquial "caught ...

'', they burned down Antoine's property. After the

devastated the island, the middle class moved to Saltaire, while the gay community settled in Cherry Grove. Both Cherry Grove and

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 Andrew Holleran is the pseudonym of Eric Garber (born 1944), an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer, born on the island of Aruba. Most of his adult life has been spent in New York City, Washington, D.C., and a small town in Florid ...

's 1978 novel ''

Dancer from the Dance ''Dancer from the Dance'' is a 1978 gay novel by Andrew Holleran (pen name of Eric Garber) about gay men in New York City and Fire Island. Plot summary The novel revolves around two main characters: Anthony Malone, a young man from the Midw ...

''. 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 Esther Newton (born 1940, New York City) is an American cultural anthropologist who performed pioneering work on the ethnography of lesbian and gay communities in the United States. Career Newton studied history at the University of Michigan and ...

chronicle the gay history of Fire Island. The gay subculture of Fire Island in the 1970s and 1980s is depicted in ''

Faggots ''Faggot'', often shortened to ''fag'', is a slur in the English language that was used to refer to gay men but its meaning has expanded to other members of the queer community. In American youth culture around the turn of the 21st century, ...

'' by

Larry Kramer Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to Lo ...

, and ''

And the Band Played On ''And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic'' is a 1987 book by ''San Francisco Chronicle'' journalist Randy Shilts. The book chronicles the discovery and spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired i ...

'' by

Randy Shilts Randy Shilts (August 8, 1951February 17, 1994) was an American journalist and author. After studying journalism at the University of Oregon, Shilts began working as a reporter for both ''The Advocate'' and the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', as well ...

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 Beach nourishment (also referred to as beach renourishment, beach replenishment, or sand replenishment) describes a process by which sediment, usually sand, lost through longshore drift or erosion is replaced from other sources. A wider beach c ...

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 United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

, 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 Summer Club, Lonelyville, Ocean Bay Park, Ocean Beach,

, 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

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 Moriches Inlet ( ) is an inlet connecting Moriches Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York. The name Moriches comes from Meritces – a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck.T ...

—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 The Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is about long and has an average depth of and is at its deepest. It is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island ...

, which spans interconnected bays along Long Island:

Patchogue Bay Patchogue Bay is a lagoon on the south-central shores of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. Part of the Great South Bay, Patchogue Bay is a cove between the points of land known as Blue Point and Howells Point, and across which ferries ...

, Bellport Bay,

Narrow Bay Narrow may refer to: * The Narrow, rock band from South Africa * Narrow banking, proposed banking system that would eliminate bank runs and the need for a deposit insurance * Narrow-gauge railway, a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the ...

, and

Moriches Bay Moriches Bay ( ) is a lagoon system on the south shore of Long Island, New York (state), New York. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck. Two townships in Suffolk NY, Suffolk, New York (Brookhaven ...

. 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 Patchogue ( ) is a village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 12,408 at the time of the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Patchogue is an incorporated community in the town of Brookhaven, on the south shore of Long Island, ...

Bay Shore Bay Shore is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Islip, New York, United States. It is situated on the South Shore of Long Island, adjoining the Great South Bay. The population of the CDP was 29,244 at the time of the 2020 ...

, and

Sayville Sayville is a hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Located on the South Shore of Long Island in the Town of Islip, the population of the CDP was 16,569 at the time of the 2020 census. History The earlie ...

, to more than 10 points on the island. The island is accessible by automobile near each end: via

Robert Moses Causeway The Robert Moses Causeway is an state parkway in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. It is named for the master builder and urban planner Robert Moses. The parkway, originally known as the Captree Causeway, connects West Islip on Long ...

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 Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler (October 6, 1770 – November 20, 1843) was a Swiss-American surveyor who is considered the forefather of both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Techno ...

, a Swiss-American

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

, measured at Fire Island the first baseline of the Survey of the Coast, shortly before

Louis Puissant Louis Puissant (22 September 1769, in Le Châtelet-en-Brie – 10 January 1843, in Paris) was a French topographical engineer, geodesist, and mathematician. He was appointed an officer in the corps of topographical engineers (''ingénieurs géo ...

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 Jones Beach Island is one of the outer barrier islands off the southern coast of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. Etymology It is named for Major Thomas Jones, who first came to Long Island in 1692, where he proceeded to build the ...

. Around 1683,

Fire Island Inlet Fire Island Inlet is an inlet on the south shore of Long Island, New York. It connects the Great South Bay with the Atlantic Ocean, passing between Robert Moses State Park (the western end of Fire Island) on the south and Oak Beach and Captree ...

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 Light The Fire Island Lighthouse is a visible landmark on the Great South Bay, in southern Suffolk County, New York on the western end of Fire Island, a barrier island off the southern coast of Long Island. The lighthouse is located within Fire Islan ...

house 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

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 A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signif ...

have led to an interruption in the

longshore drift Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand, shingle, shells) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle of incoming w ...

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

. 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

stands just east of Robert Moses State Park. A memorial to

TWA 800 Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (known as TW800 or TWA800) was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States, to Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy, with a stopov ...

, 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

* Robert Moses State Park (part)

Town of Islip

* Atlantique * Corneille Estates * Dunewood * Fair Harbor *

* Fire Island Summer Club * Kismet * Lonelyville * Ocean Beach (village) * Robert Moses State Park (park) * Robbins Rest *

(village) * Seabay Beach *

Seaview Seaview or Sea View may refer to: Places * Clifton Beach, Karachi, also known as Sea View, a beach in Pakistan * Sea View, Dorset, a suburb in England * Seaview, Isle of Wight, a small village in England * Seaview, Lower Hutt, an industrial subur ...

Town of Brookhaven

* Bellport Beach *

Blue Point Beach Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The term ''blue'' generally descr ...

* Cherry Grove * Davis Park/Ocean Ridge *

* Oakleyville * Ocean Bay Park *

Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) is a United States National Seashore that protects a section of Fire Island, an approximately long and wide barrier island separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay. The island is part of New Yor ...

* 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 West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

, a small island with about a dozen houses. It has no telephone or electrical service. *

East Fire Island East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

, 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 John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

* 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 A stick-built home is a wooden house constructed entirely or largely on-site; that is, built on the site which it is intended to occupy upon its completion rather than in a factory or similar facility. This term is used to contrast such a dwellin ...

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,

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

within Fire Island National Seashore are car-free during the summer tourist season (

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

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/mi² (21.82/km²). There were 4,153 housing units, at an average density of 478.1/mi² (184.6/km²). 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 Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), ...

, 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 Gary Beach (October 10, 1947 – July 17, 2018) was an American actor of stage, film and television. He portrayed Roger De Bris in both the stage and film productions of ''The Producers'', for which he won a Tony Award; he received a Tony nominat ...

, 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

Village Justice *

Barbara Corcoran Barbara Ann Corcoran (born March 10, 1949) is an American businesswoman, investor, syndicated columnist, and television personality. She founded The Corcoran Group, a real estate brokerage in New York City, which she sold to NRT for $66 million ...

, 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 Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor whose career spanned five decades on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood. On screen and stage, he often portrayed characters who embodied an everyman image. Bo ...

, actor, built a summer home in the Pines. *

Wolcott Gibbs Wolcott Gibbs (March 15, 1902 – August 16, 1958) was an American editor, humorist, theatre critic, playwright and writer of short stories, who worked for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1927 until his death. He is notable for his 1936 parody ...

, 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 Samuel Adams Green (May 20, 1940 – March 4, 2011) was an American art curator and director, most associated with his promotion of American pop art, particularly the early works of his friend Andy Warhol. Early life Born in Boston on May 20 ...

, art dealer *

Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel '' Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...

* 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 The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Joan McCracken Joan Hume McCracken (December 31, 1917 – November 1, 1961) was an American dancer and actress who became famous for her role as Sylvie ("The Girl Who Falls Down") in the original 1943 production of ''Oklahoma!'' She also was noted for her per ...

, 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 Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...

, 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 Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress, singer, dancer and director. She is best known for her roles as Lorraine Baines-McFly in the ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy (1985–1990), Beverly Switzler in ''Howard t ...

, ''

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 Howard Roy Deutch (born September 14, 1950) is an American film and television director who worked with filmmaker John Hughes, directing two of Hughes's best-known screenplays, '' Pretty in Pink'' and '' Some Kind of Wonderful''. Since 2011, he h ...

Herman Wouk Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author. He published fifteen novels, many of them historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Pulitzer Prize in fiction. ...

, 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 lift A suspension lift is a modification to a vehicle to raise the ride height. It is done for the purpose of improving the Off-roading, off road performance of SUVs or trucks and other off-road vehicles, or for cosmetic purposes. Suspension lifts c ...

s, 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

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 The Long Island Central Pine Barrens (also known as the Long Island Pine Barrens) is a large area of publicly protected pine barrens in Suffolk County, New York, on Long Island, covering more than . Overview The Barrens operates similarly to ...

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 West Islip is a hamlet and CDP settled in 1683, located in the Town of Islip, in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Situated on the South Shore of Long Island, the population of the CDP was 27,048 at the time of the 2020 census. Histor ...

, and the village of

, 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 The Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) provides police services to 5 of the 10 Towns in Suffolk County, New York. It is the second largest county police agency in the United States, with approximately 2500 sworn officers. History Prior ...

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

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 A water taxi or a water bus is a boat used to provide public transport, public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an Urban area, urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a simil ...

, 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

is stationed at the

and

. 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 Bay Shore Union Free School District or Bay Shore Schools is a school district headquartered in Bay Shore, New York. In 2015 Joseph C. Bond became the interim superintendent; he previously was superintendent of the Brentwood Union Free School D ...

or the

Islip School District Islip Union Free School District, also known as Islip Public Schools, is a school district in Long Island, New York. Its headquarters are in the Administration Building in the Town of Islip. The school district's mascot is the Buccaneer. The ...

for secondary levels. The respective high schools are

Bay Shore High School Bay Shore High School is a public high school located in Bay Shore, New York. The school has about 2,000 students in grades 9 to 12.Islip High School Islip High School is the public high school in Islip Islip may refer to: Places England * Islip, Northamptonshire *Islip, Oxfordshire * Islip Manor Meadows United States *Islip, New York, a town in Suffolk County ** Islip (hamlet), New Yor ...

. *

William Floyd Union Free School District The William Floyd Union Free School District is located in the southern area of the Brookhaven, New York, Town of Brookhaven on Long Island in New York (state), New York. The district serves the contiguous communities of Shirley, New York, Shir ...

* 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 ''Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade'' is a 1955 novel by American author Patrick Dennis chronicling the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the Ward (law), ward of his Aunt Mame Dennis, the sister of his dead father. The book i ...

'' by

Patrick Dennis Edward Everett Tanner III (18 May 1921 – 6 November 1976), known by the pseudonym Patrick Dennis, was an American author. His novel ''Auntie Mame, Auntie Mame: An irreverent escapade'' (1955) was one of the bestselling American boo ...

uses a Fire Island reference to emphasize that the eponymous character keeps "queer" company. * The August 1965 feature "

Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, cartoonist, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before being drafted into ...

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 Frank Joseph Perry Jr. (August 21, 1930 – August 29, 1995) was an American stage director and filmmaker. His 1962 independent film '' David and Lisa'' earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (writte ...

, adapted by Eleanor Perry from the

Evan Hunter Evan Hunter (born Salvatore Albert Lombino; October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) was an American author of crime and mystery fiction. He is best known as the author of '' 87th Precinct'' novels, published under the pen name Ed McBain, which ar ...

novel about a summer of sexual discovery on Fire Island, brought an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

nomination for actress

Catherine Burns Catherine Burns (September 25, 1945 – February 2, 2019) was an American actress of stage, film, radio and television. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in ''Last Summer (1969 film), Last ...

. * The pioneering 1971 gay pornographic film ''

Boys in the Sand ''Boys in the Sand'' is a landmark American Gay pornography, gay pornographic film, released early in the Golden Age of Porn. The 1971 film was directed by Wakefield Poole and stars Casey Donovan (actor), Casey Donovan.

'' by

Wakefield Poole Walter Wakefield Poole III (February 24, 1936 – October 27, 2021) was an American dancer, choreographer, theatrical director, and pioneering film director in the gay pornography industry during the 1970s and 1980s.

was filmed on Fire Island. * American writer

Patricia Nell Warren Patricia Nell Warren (June 15, 1936 – February 9, 2019), also known by her pen name Patricia Kilina, was an American novelist, poet, editor and journalist. Her second novel, ''The Front Runner'' (1974), was the first work of contemporary gay fi ...

locates parts of her 1974 best-selling novel ''

The Front Runner ''FrontRunner'' is a Commuter rail in North America, commuter railway operated by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) that runs along the Wasatch Front in north-central Utah with service from Ogden Central station in central Weber County, Utah, ...

'' on the Island, as well as parts of the 1994 sequel ''Harlan's Race''. * The 1975 Brian Eno album ''

Another Green World ''Another Green World'' is the third solo studio album by English musician Brian Eno ( mononymously credited as "Eno"), released by Island Records on 14 November 1975. The album marked a transition from the rock-based music of Eno's previous r ...

'' features the song "Over Fire Island". * Fire Island features in the 1975 best-selling novel ''

Looking for Mr. Goodbar Looking for Mr. Goodbar may refer to: * ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (novel), a 1975 novel by Judith Rossner * ''Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (film), a 1977 film adaptation, starring Diane Keaton {{disambiguation ...

'' by

Judith Rossner Judith Rossner (March 31, 1935 – August 9, 2005) was an American novelist, best known for her acclaimed best sellers '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1975) and ''August'' (1983). Life and career, 1935–1973 Born in New York City, on March 31, 1 ...

. * The

Village People Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the re ...

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 Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perform ...

, lead singer of the heavy metal band

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

, 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 ''Sin After Sin'' is the third studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 8 April 1977 by Columbia Records, and on 22 April in the UK, by CBS Records. Produced by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover, it was the band's majo ...

''. * 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 France Joli (; née Joly; born February 2, 1963) is a Canadian singer, best known for the disco classics " Come to Me" and "Gonna Get Over You". Teen stardom Born France Joly in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Joli grew up in Dorion. Her father wa ...

for an oceanfront audience of 5,000 (after

Donna Summer Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music ...

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 Francine Paula Pascal (''née'' Rubin, May 13, 1932 – July 28, 2024) was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. ''Sweet Valley High,'' the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, ...

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 ''Lips Together, Teeth Apart'' is a 1991 American play written by Terrence McNally. The play which premiered Off-Broadway, concerns two straight couples who spend a weekend in a gay community. Plot A gay community in Fire Island provides an unlik ...

''. * The song "Pretty Deep" on the 1997 album ''

Lovesongs for Underdogs ''Lovesongs for Underdogs'' is the solo debut album by American musician Tanya Donelly, who had formerly recorded with Throwing Muses, The Breeders, and Belly. It was released on September 8, 1997 and issued by 4AD and Sire Records. Release '' ...

'' by

Tanya Donelly Tanya Donelly (born July 14, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New England. She came to prominence as a co-founder of the band Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh. Donelly went on to co-form the altern ...

refers to a visit to Fire Island. * Fire Island is repeatedly referenced on the

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sitcom ''

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'', first broadcast in 1998. * ''When Ocean Meets Sky'', a 2003 documentary detailing the 50-year history of the

community, includes much previously unseen archival footage. * The 2003 album ''Welcome Interstate Managers'' by Fountains of Wayne 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 / 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 ''Beach Comber'' was filmed on Fire Island in 2004. * The 2006 American Broadcasting Company, ABC reality show ''One Ocean View'' was shot on Fire Island. * Fire Island is featured prominently in the 2008 Ann Brashares novel ''The Last Summer (of You and Me)'', about two sisters and a friend who grow up together, vacationing on the island every summer. * The 2019 mystery film ''Last Ferry (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 (film), Fire Island'' 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

. 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.

References

External links

*
Fire Island National Seashore
{{authority control Fire Island, New York, 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)

History

Etymology

Settlement

Shipwrecks

As gay village

2009: Beach renourishment

2012: Hurricane Sandy

Geography

Historical modifications

Landmarks and preserves

Locations

Town of Babylon

Town of Islip

Town of Brookhaven

Small islands in the vicinity

Other locations

Inhabitants

Demographics

Famous summer residents

Emergency services

Education

In popular culture

Local folklore

See also

References

External links