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Assemblyman Wants State To Help Sag Harbor Rebuild After Main Street Fire

SAG HARBOR, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island state assemblyman wants to help businesses rebuild from the devastating fire on Main Street in Sag Harbor earlier this month.

As WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported, about 50 businesses suffered losses when the raging fire ripped through Main Street on Friday, Dec. 16. Gusty winds made it difficult to fight the fire, and the result was the total loss of a beloved movie theatre.

The iconic century-old Sag Harbor Cinema was gutted by the fire and the remains had to be demolished afterward.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo to declare the fire a special disaster so that low-interest loans would be made available to homeowners.

"We've got in the neighborhood of about 50 businesses that were impacted by the fire," Thiele said. "Now, only eight of them had physical damage, but there are in the neighborhood of 50 that have lost income because Main Street was closed or parking spaces had to be shut down."

Twenty years ago, another massive fire consumed the center of Sag Harbor when the hardware store, filled with combustibles, went up in flames. This month, the wind blew away from the hardware store, preventing the fire from being even worse.

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