Residents Still in the Dark over Bomb Squad Call to Schreiber Field

Audience members leaving the Port Summer Show on Saturday night observed police activity on Campus Drive and Bogart Avenue. While those departing the show were not directly affected by the activity, residents of Bogart Avenue and Ridge Drive report a different story. 

Witnesses reported a loud explosion and subsequent smoke at the Schreiber High School playing fields. That brought emergency vehicles and residents in the area to the scene.

"There was quite a bit of excitement in our neighborhood on Saturday night," said Nancy Cohen of 29 Ridge Drive. "When I arrived home about 9:15, there were police cars, fire trucks and an ambulance on Old Hills Lane by the high school playing fields.  I was concerned, because my daughter was attending the summer show. I also saw emergency vehicles on Ridge Drive by the trail that leads through the woods to the high school. "

The incident came only two days before an investigation at George Washington Elementary School in West Hempstead, where Nassau County arson and bomb squad detectives responded to a loud explosion. Smoke and flames were observed coming from the school. No injuries were reported, and two juvenile males, ages 14, of West Hempstead, were arrested and are being charged with fourth-degree arson.

Repeated calls by Port Washington Patch to the Port Washington Police Department for information about the Aug. 7 incident at the high school playing fields were not returned.

However, Port Washington Fire Department Chief Tom McDonough, noting that the incident was under police investigation, said,  "The Port Washington Fire Department was dispatched for a brush fire," he said. "Upon arrival we were advised by police that there was a package on the hockey field – that's the uppermost field. We secured the area. The Nassau County Fire Marshall's office and Arson and Bomb Squad were notified. At this time, it's an active investigation between the Arson and Bomb Squad and Port Washington Police Department's detective division."

"We heard the sirens," said David Heinlein of 23 Bogart Avenue. For Heinlein, it was almost a deja vu experience. He "heard a boom" on Friday night and saw emergency vehicles at the high school playing fields responding to a branch that caught fire. There was a subsequent power outage that continued into the next day. "Now we were seeing trucks the second night at the exact same spot."

McDonough said the previous fire was "an unrelated incident."

Heinlein said that when he approached the field Saturday night, people spoke about seeing something burning and hearing an explosion. After that there was a lingering burning. ""Something kept fueling this," Heinlein said. 

Cohen said she saw firefighters going house to house. "They told my husband that they had evacuated the homes on the side of Ridge that backs onto the high school field, but that our side of the street was safe. He asked if they were looking for someone, and replied they were looking for 'something.'"

Cohen continued: "When my daughter was walking home after the show, across the field, she was told by police to get off the field.  A friend of ours called the police, who would not supply much information except to indicate that they had received a report of some sort of device on or near the field. Later that evening all the emergency vehicles left, and we never heard anything further."

Residents are looking for answers. "We'd love to know what happened," Cohen said.