$52M approved for emergency repairs on Fire Island

Relief from severe erosion is headed to Fire Island after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a $52 million project Monday.

The project includes offshore dredging that will pump 2 million yards of sand to restore shorelines along the barrier island from Seaview to Davis Park.

Gov. Kathy Hochul with Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said the federally funded contract is to make emergency repairs after fall and winter storms eroded large sections of beach berm and dunes that are part of the Fire Island Inlet to Moriches Inlet project.

The Army Corps tapped Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company of Houston for the project. The company has worked on similar projects on the western end of Fire Island. Farther east, Great Lakes completed an $11.25 million Army Corps project to widen a vulnerable stretch of beach in Montauk.

Emergency repairs are expected to begin in September or October, officials said. 

“Today’s $52 million contract award brings us another step closer to restoring the dunes on Fire Island to protect its communities and ensure the integrity of the island, a barrier that protects Long Island’s densely populated South Shore," Schumer said in a statement Monday.

Suzy Goldhirsch, president of the Fire Island Association civic group, said the repairs benefit all Long Islanders. 

“Without this chain of defense along the South Shore, Long Island would be very exposed to sea level rise," she said. "So it's important to keep the barrier island re-nourished."

A series of fall and winter storms wiped out dunes and sandy beaches on the barrier island. Damage from storms last September was compounded by major winter coastal storms, which prompted emergency funding to kick in at different levels.

The state previously pledged $3 million to replenish sand on eroded beaches on Fire Island, including at Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove, Newsday reported.

Brookhaven later spent $500,000 to place sandbags along eastern Fire Island communities like Davis Park and Seaview as a “stopgap” solution. The Army Corps announced it would spend $3.5 million to design the project in March.

“The storms created the biggest existential threat to the island in decades,” said Henry Robin, president of the Fire Island Pines Property Owners’ Association.

Robin said the emergency project was a “Band-Aid … for areas of the community that were so vulnerable, they couldn’t even wait until this fall.”

Individually, the storms didn’t meet the threshold of damage to access emergency funding, according to Schumer’s office. Taken together, an aggregation of the storm damage made the project eligible for federal funding.

Some officials say engineers must come up with creative solutions and designs as climate change accelerates.

“This is very expensive to do every four or five years,” said Brookhaven Town councilman Neil Foley, whose district includes several Fire Island communities. “These storms are coming fast and furious now, and they’re lasting longer than they used to.”

Advocates say replenishing the shoreline protects more than just oceanfront homes and popular tourist beaches. It’s a lifeline for the mainland.

“If you live along the coast, you’re much more aware of sea level rise and climate change," Goldhirsch said. "We’re like the canaries in the mine."

This summer, Goldhirsch said, the beach has been “very narrow,” though natural ocean cycles have helped restore some swaths of sand.

Robin said it’s a “fraction” of what the beach will look like once the Army Corps project is complete.