Ever since the spring, when the Quiksilver Pro New York surfing contest announced that it was headed for Long Beach, city fire department officials have been rolling up their sleeves and getting to work, making preparations for a safe event.
“We’ve been constantly going over our plans and tweaking our plans, which we’ve been making for the last five months,” said Long Beach Fire Department Chief Richard Corbett.
The surfing competition, scheduled to run from Sept. 4 to 15, is to Long Beach. The contest will feature the world’s best surfers competing for $1 million in prize money. Long Beach is the first East Coast town to host the event and the sixth stop on the tour.
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Chief Corbett said the fire department’s role is to assist anyone who needs help — residents and visitors alike.
“Our job, as always, is to handle things professionally and to make sure things get done properly,” Corbett said.
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He said the department will have extra uniformed personnel on duty during the two-week surfing extravaganza and has devised a mutual aid plan with surrounding fire departments, which will be called on if necessary to handle some of the potential emergencies. Among those units on stand-by will be the Nassau County Police Ambulance Bureau, and both the Nassau County and New York City police aviation units.
They have also established a helicopter-landing zone, the location of which Corbett would not disclose, to airlift any accident victims to Nassau University Medical Center or any other hospital.
The Long Beach Fire Department has also been working closely with the Nassau County Fire Marshal to go over the conditions of certain buildings in the area. “This way we know exactly what equipment we would need to bring people out safely,” Corbett said.
The department has also touched base with Long Beach lifeguards to go over strategy in case of an emergency in or near the water.
In addition, Lt. Michael Geller, who is in charge of the city’s uniformed firefighters, has been in touch with police and fire officials on the West Coast, where major surfing competitions have been hosted in the past.
“We’ve never done anything like this before,” the Long Beach fire chief said of a major surfing event, adding that other areas have experienced such an event and he wanted to pick their brain on what to expect. “They’ve been very helpful out there.”
Uniformed firefighters have also checked fire hydrants on local streets to make certain they are in good working order.
Chief Brian Guerin of the Point Lookout-Lido Fire Department said his department is gearing up for the surfing event.
“We’re willing to work with anyone who needs us,” Guerin said. “If we get called upon, we’ll just handle it. We have a standing mutual aid agreement with them.”
As for the thousands expected to flock to the area for the competition, Guerin said, “It should be interesting.”
Corbett added that Long Beach residents need not worry that they will not get proper attention in an emergency.
“We will make sure their medical needs will not be spared,” he said. “We have back-up ambulances coming from other areas. Everyone is going above and beyond to help us. Chiefs from other fire departments have been contacting us asking what they could do to help out.
“We hope everybody comes, has a good time and gets home safely every night,” Corbett said.
