By John C. O'Connell and Nicole Falco
"While most residents rushed to food and hardware stores and home centers for emergency supplies, including batteries and flashlights, Valley Stream firefighters responded to duty at their firehouses, preparing for any fire or medical emergency that might happen," said Walter Weltner, a department spokesman.
Only minutes after the power went down, firefighters were called on to evacuate people trapped in an elevator at 210 E. Sunrise Highway. Then, 20 minutes later, firefighters responded to a reported fire in the Food Court at the Green Acres Mall.
Chief of Department Robert Petry ordered all apparatus and personnel to respond to Fire Headquarters on Rockaway Parkway for strategic planning, Weltner said. A command post was set up at headquarters, where the chiefs and other officers and firefighters were stationed to monitor radio communications and handle all emergencies.
Petry was in constant touch with the Fire Communications Bureau in Mineola, village officials and other emergency organizations. Radio and alarm notifications, the backbone of reporting a fire, were never in jeopardy, he said.
Once back at their local firehouses, which were powered by emergency generators, firefighters tested radio communications, checked area fire hydrants for low water pressure and attended to numerous other items so that rapid responses to all emergency situations would be assured, Weltner said.
Firehouses remained open to residents. At one firehouse, four residents came in to use their home ventilation equipment, which required electrical power, one person used a firehouse refrigerator to keep medications cold, and others were given ice for proper storage of their medications.
The VSFD responded to 24 emergencies during the blackout, including helping people with breathing difficulties, numerous aided cases, auto accidents, minor fires, automatic alarms and mutual aid to neighboring departments, Weltner said.
The department responded to a serious house fire on Wood Lane, in which firefighters rescued a disabled, elderly resident of the home. The man's daughter-in-law and her children escaped uninjured.
Petry, First Assistant Chief Joseph Garofalo and Second Assistant Chief Brian Howley were present during the entire blackout and were enthusiastic in their praise of the firefighters. "While most people were rushing home to their families," Petry said, "our firefighters were responding to their firehouse, leaving their families, to insure our residents a rapid response to any and all fire and medical emergencies. I couldn't be more proud of their efforts and dedication."
The firefighters were dismissed after the power emergency was declared over at 3 a.m. Friday.
Police respond
Lt. Dennis Dowdell, administrative officer of Nassau County's Fifth Police Precinct, said 65 extra police officers and 10 supervisors beyond the normal complement were called in. Extra officers helped direct traffic at major intersections.
When the blackout began, Dowdell said, "our services were briefly interrupted, but we were able to get up to speed pretty fast" because the police department operated with an auxiliary generator.
At first no one knew the cause of the blackout but, Dowdell said, "I think we were ready for anything. I would say we were ready for whatever happened."
Dowdell added that there were no reports of looting in the precinct, and no spike in crime due to the lack of electricity.
Stranded commuters
Long Island Rail Road trains weren't running, so city workers couldn't get home and reverse commuters couldn't leave Valley Stream by train to go west.
"Ordinarily we'd be working taking people home from the station," said Matt Bell of Valley Stream, a driver for Valley Stream Taxi, "but there aren't any trains coming out of the city, so there's not much we can do."
Some city workers chose to sleep in their offices, in hotels, or at co-workers' or friends' houses. Workers determined to make it home walked for hours to one of the city's bridges or ferry ports. In a mass exodus reminiscent of Sept. 11, thousands of New Yorkers made their way across the bridges that humid evening. The lucky ones had a family member waiting on the other side in an air-conditioned car.
Carol McKenna of Valley Stream is one determined Long Islander. Luckily for McKenna, she works on the sixth floor of her Manhattan office building. About 20 minutes after the power failed, she and her co-workers walked down the six flights to head home. McKenna, wearing a business suit and high heels, walked from 43rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues down to the Williamsburg Bridge on Delancey Street in lower Manhattan, then hiked across it.
"All I kept thinking was, I hope I don't have a heat stroke, and hope my legs keep on going," McKenna recounted.
McKenna's son, Peter, was waiting in his car in Brooklyn to take her home. She finally made it back to Valley Stream at 10:30 p.m. When she got home, she and her son cooked spaghetti and ate by candlelight.
Norman Teitelbaum was at the Valley Stream train station, trying to get home to Brooklyn. "I wish I knew how long this will last," he said at around 5:30 p.m. "I don't know whether to try to get a bus to Jamaica and get a train there, hopefully, or just stay here."
Jill Henry, who works in Lynbrook and needed to get to her Manhattan home, was in the same predicament. She had gotten a ride to the station from a co-worker, Phil Bougher, of Rosedale. "We've been here for about 15 minutes already, and we just don't know what to do at this point," Henry said.
Blackout effects around town
Elsewhere in Valley Stream, summer-school graduation took place in a darkened and un-air-conditioned Central High School auditorium.
Besides the fire and police departments, village officials were called into action. Village Code Enforcement and Public Safety employees and Valley Stream Civilian Patrol and Valley Stream Auxiliary Police Department volunteers helped the fire and police departments maintain safety. Many of the those employees and volunteers directed traffic at busy intersections.
"The fire department and auxiliary police [and civilian patrol], they are volunteers ... that to me is just remarkable, that's just generosity to a fault," said Village Clerk Vincent Ang. "All of the agencies worked well together and just did a remarkable job."
Even ordinary citizens lent a hand. While shopping in King Kullen with his wife, Richard Boutelle sprang into action. The Valley Streamer donned an orange emergency vest and directed traffic at the intersection of Merrick Road and Fletcher Avenue.
Village Hall had just closed when the blackout occurred, and most village employees, except for Code Enforcement and Public Safety, were already on their way home. Power in Village Hall and the library was maintained by an auxiliary generator. Even after power was restored -- later that evening or the next day, depending on the location -- Village Hall and the library continued to be powered by the generator, at LIPA's request, to conserve electricity, Ang said.
Meanwhile, residents made the most of a tough and uncontrollable situation. Since it was cooler outside than inside, many gathered on their stoops to chat or listen to battery-powered radios by candlelight or flashlight.
"We made a good time out of it," said Linda Voskerijian, a Valley Stream resident. "We put blankets on the lawn. We made it fun for the kids." Voskerijian, her family and neighbors also witnessed the fire and rescue on Wood Lane.
The ice cream man and Italian ices were big hits that evening. Rather than let the ices melt, Brian Castelli, who works at V & R Catering on Merrick Road, stood roadside, holding up a "Gino's Italian Ices" sign in an attempt to invite the weather-weary inside.
Emergency visits up
Franklin Hospital Medical Center had a busy night, with more than 50 people visiting the emergency department in a span of an hour and a half to two hours. "We had many people come in showing symptoms of anxiety," said Terry Lynam, a spokesman for the North Shore-Long island Jewish Health System, which owns Franklin. Many others came in suffering from shortness of breath, and others were crash victims from the numerous accidents on area roads.
"There were also people who came in who are on home ventilators, just to be on the safe side," Lynam said.
Franklin used auxiliary power to maintain operations once the power went out and overnight, and was back on full power by morning, according to Lynam.
"Our biggest challenge," he said, "was trying to make sure there was enough fuel for the generators, and to maintain communications and lighting, and to make sure that patient care was not being jeopardized in any way. The auxiliary power operated well."
Lynam said that Franklin, along with all the other hospitals in the North Shore-LIJ system, "continued to operate as well as possible under the circumstances."
With the auxiliary power used for only the most necessary functions, the air conditioning had to be turned off and non-critical lighting in the hospital was dimmed.
The next day
Residents not fortunate enough to have power restored before they went to bed awoke to the hum of refrigerators and the sights of flashing alarm clocks.
Though power was restored by Friday morning, for most, the blackout's effects continued to be felt. Motorists -- many of whom had run their engines for hours trying to get home and for air conditioning and radio news -- found long lines at gas stations when power came back on to work the pumps Friday morning.
Many were forced to discard refrigerated food that had spoiled. King Kullen was one popular spot the next day. The supermarket has an auxiliary generator that it put to use immediately after the blackout began. As usual, the store remained open through the night. During the blackout, milk and batteries flew off the shelves.
While King Kullen had the benefit of a generator, restaurants did not. Susan Min, owner of Carvel on Merrick Road, was forced to close her store when the power failed. She taped a sign, "Closed till the power comes back," to the store's door and anxiously waited in the dark and heat for power to return. The lights finally came back on at 11:30 p.m., but not before Min lost more than $1,000 in business and ice cream.
It was too hot to cook, so Steve Milonas, owner of Chicken Gyro Delicious on Rockaway Avenue, and his employees sat outside. "What else are we going to do?" Milonas said. "It's too hot inside, with no air conditioning and no fans."
Milonas was forced to close his store, as was Atifah Subzwari, owner of Super Grocery Inc., also on Rockaway. Subzwari, a Valley Stream resident, said she and her husband, Hemid, just bought the store two weeks ago.
Mike Itgen, owner of Itgen's Ice Cram Parlor on Rockaway, called the blackout a "meltdown."
"If this keeps up we'll have soup," Itgen said. "You'll see a puddle of ice cream coming out of this store."
At 6:30 p.m., Itgen was debating how much longer he'd wait before closing the store and letting his employees go home. Without electricity it was too hot to cook, making ice cream a customer's only option, but that was melting. Evelyn Rauch, a Valley Streamer since 1948, stopped in for dinner, but got chocolate ice cream instead.
The next day, Itgen's was back in business, but Itgen estimated her lost at least $1,000 in food and business. Since the power was restored Thursday night, Itgen said most of his food and ice cream "held tough" in secure freezers. Though he had closed up shop at 7 p.m., Itgen was there when the power came back.
"I'm walking down the aisle [of the restaurant] and boom, everything came on at once," Itgen said. "The stereo was cranking 'Free Bird' and it scared me to death, but thank goodness it came on."
