On May 25, 2016, the Bay Shore Fire Department responded to a report of a brush fire on a pole in Gilbert Park on South Windsor in Brightwaters Village. Upon arrival, 2nd Assistant Chief Jerry Rockfled found a fire in a large osprey nest containing a mother and four fledglings. Engine 311 and Ladder 317 staged their rigs until the power could be secured by PSEG-LI. The Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center was consulted on how to handle the trapped birds. Firefighters Voges and Ball using Ladder 317, made a quick knock down of the fire with a dry chemical extinguisher and then removed the four babies. Firefighter Fred Crump, using a one-inch line, mopped up the rest of the fire atop the pole. FF Voges and Ball returned the birds to their nest and the mother bird returned. One of the birds didn’t survive and was buried nearby.
– Fire News photos by John Ippolito
