New regulations designed to protect vulnerable victims of fires and floods on Long Island were signed into law Wednesday.

The legislation controls those aggressive contractors that show up at disaster scenes and prey on victims.

How the new law works

When disaster strikes, the last thing you need to think about is being ripped off, but officials say it's happening across Suffolk County.

Legislator Dominick Thorne's law is modeled after a similar one in Nassau County, and is designed to act as a check on those who are listening to emergency channels and waiting to make a quick buck off of someone else's misery. It requires a company offering board-up services to be licensed and for its representatives to stay behind fire lines, and they will have to disclose to the homeowner that they are not with the fire department.

"Board-up companies have had vehicles that look like police or fire vehicles to allow themselves to get into the scene quicker, so now they'll have to identify themselves," said Jack Blaum, president of Brookhaven Town Fire Chiefs.

Violators can be penalized with a fine of $5,000 and a year in jail.

"Vultures" and "horror stories"

Firefighters say they've witnessed these types of contractors swoop in and try to rush vulnerable homeowners.

"We've had them enter a house while we are still conducting an investigation. There are real horror stories," said Kyle McCarthy, of the Fire Marshal Association of Suffolk County.

"Seriously misrepresenting themselves as members of the fire department or the government, insisting that the homeowner would have to sign with them. These vermin were praying on folks who just lost their home," Suffolk County Legislator Dominick Thorne added.

Thorne says the first call should be to your insurance company, which will often send its own board-up crew, adding a good rule of thumb is if you didn't call them and they just show up, don't do business with them.