125 Years Ago 1900
From The East Hampton Star, April 13
A destructive forest fire, started in the woods on Tuesday afternoon, soon covered about seventy five or one hundred acres of land owned by S. Foster Parsons and H.H. Schellinger, who tender their thanks to the people of East Hampton, Amagansett, and Springs for prompt services in extinguishing the same. On the same day, the house of Mrs. Amanda Bennett narrowly escaped burning, as a forest fire that burned near to her chicken house began in her yard. A force of fishermen subdued the flames in time to save all buildings.
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The conflagration which started Tuesday near Promised Land made a clean sweep across the Napeague meadows and pine lands. All day Sunday it raged fiercely through the pine woods east and west of Napeague Harbor, and the huge smoke clouds rising from the thousands of acres of blazing pine woods were visible for many miles at sea. Monday afternoon the flames reached the foothills of Montauk, whence they spread on both sides of the railroad, and by Monday night they extended beyond the first houses across from Napeague Harbor to the Atlantic shores.
Thousands of acres of pine forests on Napeague belonging to the Montauk Company and to East Hampton and Amagansett proprietors were consumed during the four days and nights the conflagration swept like a prairie fire before the wind, from Highland hill east to Montauk.
100 Years Ago 1925
From The East Hampton Star, April 10
Again the destructive hand of the fire god has been raised. Over last weekend and during this week woods fires have been raging in nearly all sections of the town. Last Sunday a fierce fire started along the railroad track between East Hampton and Amagansett, burning through to the concrete road, jumping that, a distance of thirty or forty feet, and continuing on across the grassy lots, where the firemen finally got it under control by using chemicals before it reached any of the summer residences.
This was one of the worst woods fires the firemen have had to contend with in many a day. The woods were very dry and offered wonderful material for the approaching flames. When it was discovered residences were in the path of the onrushing forest fire, the entire fire department was called out by a general alarm.
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An automobile driven by Albert Kurtz of Patchogue, salesman for the Metropolitan Tobacco Company, plunged down a cliff at Montauk, when the steering gear broke on Tuesday, and was smashed to a mass of tangled wreckage. Kurtz saved his life by jumping from the machine before it went over the cliff. Mortimer Jaffe was to have met Kurtz in Amagansett and to have ridden with him to Montauk. Business precluded keeping the engagement. He thinks if two persons had been on the seat of the unmanageable car they would have both lost their lives.
75 Years Ago 1950
From The East Hampton Star, April 13
Arrangements to man 22 aircraft spotter posts in Suffolk have been announced by James Van Orden, director of the Suffolk County Veterans Service Agency in Bay Shore, and recently appointed acting Suffolk Supervisor for Civil Defense. The Suffolk observation posts are spread along the north and south shores and through the center of the county. Their purpose is to prepare for any emergency which may arise through international conditions, with similar arrangements being made in other parts of the United States.
Called “Operation Lookout,” the plan will proceed along the same lines that were set up during World War II. It will be more elaborate, however, with permanent posts included in the plans. Action will start this summer with a statewide alert conducted during a simulated air attack on the East Coast.
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Happy ending to a search for a piece of prime yellow locust to replace two arms of the old Hook Mill which blew off and were completely smashed when they crashed to the ground in a brief windstorm last May 20.
Because of this freak accident the mill has remained idle for almost a year, it being considered dangerous to turn the unbalanced shaft with only two of its four arms. During this time no grain could be ground and the mill’s canvas sails turning in the breeze were greatly missed by villagers and visitors.
50 Years Ago 1975
From The East Hampton Star, April 10
County Executive John V.N. Klein, who asked the County Department of Public Works two months ago to draw up plans for the “stabilization” of Georgica Pond, has now asked the Department “to defer indefinitely any further action” on the project, after all. The news evoked satisfaction at Tuesday’s meeting of the East Hampton Town Trustees, who own the Pond. Though they have sometimes been accused of indecisiveness in other matters, the Trustees have steadfastly opposed stabilization.
But their position toward a developer’s activities near Hook Pond, another of their properties, had been “very unclear,” Nancy Goell of the Group for America’s South Fork complained later in the meeting. The developer, Robert Barnes, is said to have been filling wetlands alongside the Dreen.
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Fifteen months ago, the East Hampton Town Board appointed a “Local Housing Council” to find out how badly the Town needed low-cost housing and how it might be provided. By last May, the Council had concluded that “a conservative estimate of housing needs would justify a 100-unit housing project.”
By the end of February, it had written a final recommendation and given it to the Board “for implementation action.” Three weeks ago, the Board asked Herbert A. Morris Jr. of the Suffolk County Community Development Corporation to help it decide how to proceed with the implementation.
25 Years Ago 2000
From The East Hampton Star, April 13
East Hampton, Amagansett, and Springs firefighters struggled for more than two hours Sunday afternoon to contain a blaze that ripped through a Jones Road, East Hampton, residence, but despite their efforts the house was almost entirely destroyed.
Edward and Lyn Atha Chase, the parents of Chevy Chase, the television and film star, are its owners. They were not in East Hampton at the time of the fire. Fierce winds, stinging hail, and steady snow hammered the nearly 100 volunteers who responded to the alarm. On Tuesday Ken Collum, East Hampton Village’s fire inspector, made an early determination as to the cause. He blamed lightning.
“It’s kind of like looking for the old needle in a haystack,” said Mr. Collum, who spent all day Monday combing through the charred shell of the house.
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A vote by the East Hampton Town Board to establish a new Nature Preserve Committee, intended to take over from the now defunct Open Space Committee in overseeing the town’s parks and publicly owned lands, has been delayed amid political bickering over its membership.
The board’s three Republicans have refused to accept Lisa Grenci of Montauk as a member, and its two Democrats have insisted that she deserves a spot. On Friday, Councilman Pete Hammerle, who had served as the board’s liaison to the emerging committee, removed himself from the role in frustration and turned it over to Councilwoman Diana Weir.
