Nicole LaFountaine was in Sayville on Nov. 14 when she first received word that a fast-moving fire had engulfed the Fire Island Pines building that her family has owned since her grandparents bought it in 1952. She first saw the flames shooting from the roof of the Danikki Building and the neighboring Pavilion complex from across the bay.

LaFountaine called a firefighter who was on his way to the Pines on a boat to confirm if he could see the fire.

"I said I just need to know if you can see it because if you can see it, then it's gone," said LaFountaine. "He said, 'I'm really sorry, but I see it.' And I said okay, now I know what I'm dealing with."

Photo courtesy of Erin Stacey Vasslailli

A fast moving fire destroyed the Sip N' Twirl complex and gutted the Pavilion and at least one home near the Fire Island Pines commercial district late on Monday, Nov. 14.

Robert Scherffius and Victor Alfieri are among the couples who married in Cherry Grove over the weekend of Sept. 17-18.

Ocean Beach breathed a sigh of relief that Hurricane Irene, downgraded to a tropical storm shortly before it rolled ashore west of Fire Island last month, didn't ruin the prospects of Labor Day weekend once the floodwaters receded. But at their first meeting since the biggest storm in a quarter century hit, village officials wasted no time with plans to shore up the battered beach.