Downed Wires Spark Exterior House Fires In Southampton: Officials

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Tropical Storm Isaias slammed Southampton Tuesday, leaving thousands without power — and with downed wires sparking some exterior house fires, town officials said.

With more than 300,000 without power across Long Island, as of 5:18 p.m., there were 4,700 without electricity in Southampton Town, according to the town's office of emergency management.

There were also some reports of downed lines that sparked exterior house fires, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said.

According to Southampton Town's Public Safety and Emergency Management Administrator Ryan Murphy, the fires were isolated to exterior fires for the most part, where wires touched houses or electrical panels blew; no one was injured due to the fires. "PSEG was notified and has addressed each of them at this time," he said.

In addition, one resident was injured when hit by a falling tree limb, Murphy said.

Fallen trees were also reported townwide, Schneiderman said.

Police, highway and fire departments responded to dozens of calls from residents reporting various issues across town, including non-working traffic lights and other damage, he said.

Southampton Town has been in communication with PSEG Long Island and residents should expect some delays restoring power due to the thousands of outages reported island-wide, the supervisor said.

Many residents turned to social media to say that they were not able to get through to PSEG Long Island.

"We are experiencing communications issues and are working with Verizon and other partners to resolve this matter as quickly as possible," a media representative for PSEG Long Island said.

Meanwhile, residents were urged to stay home and not travel on roadways scattered with downed wires and branches.

"Please be patient as crews clear roadways. All downed wires should be treated as live wires and extreme caution is urged,” Schneiderman said.

Motorists were told that they should expect delays if traveling during the cleanup process.

With Suffolk County under a tropical storm warning Tuesday, beaches were closed to swimming in Southampton due to "expected dangerous conditions," town officials said.

Southampton Town staffers took steps to batten down the hatches Monday in advance of the storm.

(Video of Cooper's Beach in Southampton by Lisa Votino)