Fire Island's Ocean Beach opens day after shark attack

Fire Island's Ocean Beach reopened to bathers Friday morning, a day after a lifeguard was bitten by a shark.

Lifeguards searched the waters Friday morning on water scooters and didn't see any sharks, so the waters were reopened to swimming, Ocean Beach chief lifeguard Jill Weinstein said. 

Officials previously restricted swimming to only knee-deep waters as they searched for any sharks nearby after two straight days of shark sightings off Fire Island. 

On Thursday, a lifeguard swimming about 150 to 200 yards out as part of an 11 a.m. training exercise was bitten on the foot, the latest instance of a shark swimming close to the shore on Long Island in recent days.

Mayor Jim Mallott said lifeguards deemed it was safe to return to the water with restrictions.

"You see sharks and not too many people want to get into the water," Mallott said. 

He said they would reassess any risk of sharks each day as the beach reopened through the weekend. 

Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin has announced that the Hempstead Town Shark Patrol and lifeguard staff are on heightened alert as thousands of residents are expected to visit town beaches this weekend. 

A shark sighting Wednesday off the Fire Island shore led to the temporary closure of Davis Park Beach. No one was injured.

On Sunday, a shark bit a Suffolk County lifeguard on the chest and hand as he took part in a training exercise drill off the shore of Smith Point County Park. The lifeguard, Zachari Gallo, was treated at a hospital and released.

And on June 30, a man swimming off Jones Beach was bitten on the foot, possibly by a shark.

In Thursday's attack, the lifeguard swam to shore. The Ocean Beach fire chief confirmed he had been bitten by a shark.

The lifeguard was treated at a hospital and released.

Officials say shark attacks are extremely rare off Long Island, but shark activity has increased in local waters with warmer temperatures and an increased feeding pool of fish.