The supervisor explained that dikes were built across the road to prevent fuel from flooding into the local neighborhood and storm drains, which lead to the Great South Bay. Town Highway Department workers trucked in 40 cubic yards of sand from the town's highway depot in Roosevelt shortly after the crash to build the dikes.

"We wanted to make sure fuel didn't get into the neighborhood," Murray said. "The really, really rapid response saved homes."

The supervisor said U.S. Environmental Protection, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and town Department of Conservation and Waterways inspectors were at the crash site and in the bays to the south, looking for signs of fuel contamination. At press time, Murray said, it appeared that no fuel had escaped into the environment.

"The good news is that the sand dam that we created did an effective job of mitigating the environmental damage," Murray said, adding that inspectors have found no fuel slicks in the bays. Murray also said that the Long Island Power Authority was working to restore electricity to homes where the power had to be shut off after the crash.

Scott Brinton contributed to this story.