LONG ISLAND LIGHTING COMPANY BUILDS BUNKER TO RIDE OUT AN ATOMIC WAR, (1950s) HICKSVILLE LI



LONG ISLAND LIGHTING COMPANY THE POWER UTILITY THAT PROVIDED POWER TO LONG ISLAND FROM THE FIRST LIGHTED HOUSE, DURING THE COLD WAR REALIZATION CAME TO MANY SMART BUISNESSES THAT A NUCLEAR STRIKE ON AMERICA EVEN A EMP (not a wildly known byproduct of a high-altitude detonation of a nuclear device)WOULD WIPE OUT RECORDS MOST IMPORTANTLY FINANCIAL RECORDS OF WHO OWES WHO ETC,  STORAGE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF COMPUTERS USING REEL TO REEL MAGNETIC TAPE TO STORE INFO OR MICROFILM EVEN THIS COULD BE DESTROYED IF A WEAPON WAS DETONATED CLOSE OR A HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE AREA WOULD PROHIBIT GETTING TO RECORDS,LILCO DECIDED EVEN WITH STORING RECORDS THEY NEEDED A COMMAND CENTER DEEP UNDER GROUND AND REINFORCED SO EMERGENCY OPERATIONS COULD BE CARRIED OUT, LONG ISLAND WAS A TARGET FOR STRONG DAMAGING HURRICANES THAT KNOCKED DOWN THE PUBLIC UTILITY'S LINES AND POLES AND BLIZZARDS AND ICE STORMS WERE ALSO COMMON AND THE GOVERNMENT KEPT URGING AMERICANS BUILD SHELTERS OR FIND A PUBLIC ONE TO USE, THE CIVIL DEFENSE AGENCIES AND OTHERS PREDICTED A NUCLEAR EXCHANGE WOULD TAKE PLACE BEFORE 1970 AND PREPARATION WAS KEY, LILCO WENT UNDERGROUND AT THEIR HICKSVILLE LI BASE AND BUILT THEIR COMMAND BUNKER THAT IS STILL UNDER THE BACK WING OF THE MAIN BLDG. IF YOU RIDE THE LIRR ON THE RONKONKOMA LINE ITS ON THE RIGHT GOING IN TO NYC, LILCO WAS AHEAD OF THEIR OTHER POWER COMPANIES AND IMPORTANT BUISNESSES THAT NEEDED THEIR RECORDS AT THE TIME IT WAS BUILT IT WAS STATE OF THE ART -GENERATORS,AIR PURIFYING FILTERS KEPT RADIATION OUT, HAM RADIO COMMUNICATIONS, AND RATIONS AND FIRST AID BELL WESTERN DID THEIR HARDENED PHONE SYSTEM AND SAW AN OPPURTUNITY FOR BOTH LILCO AND BELL BY BRAGGING IN A ADVERTISEMENT IN ALL THE MAJOR MAGAZINES ABOUT THEM BOTH BEING READY FOR ANY OUTCOME LILCO NOW CALLED NATIONAL GRID REPLACED THE DARK YELLOW AND BLACK /RED TRUCKS WITH WHITE WHEN THEY WERE FORCED TO ABANDON THE NUCLEAR POWER GENERATING PLANT IN SHOREHAM AFTER ALMOST 20 YRS OF BUILDING RAN IT WITH CONTROL RODS AND GENERATED POWER FOR A COUPLE HOURS THEN IT WAS CLOSED PARTIALLY DISMANTLED AND AUCTIONED OFF IN THE 1990s , LILCO COULD NOT ABSORB THE LOSS OF THE PLANT AND HANDED OFF THE COMPANY TO BROOKLYN GAS-NATL GRID. THEY STIL USE THE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS BUNKER.