East Hampton Village Emergency Operations Center Opens Due to Winter Storm

East Hampton Village opened its Emergency Operations Center at noon on Sunday in response to the winter storm.

Police Chief Jerry Larsen said the call center will handle all non-emergency 911 calls within the village. "It's for calls such as if your lights are out or you want to know where the shelters are, if it comes to that later on. Rather than burden dispatch with that kind of thing, the EOC will handle that."

Two officers are assigned to man the EOC phone lines at the Emergency Communications Building. The EOC also coordinates emergency operations between various departments.

"We also put extra call takers on for 911 calls," Larsen said. Village dispatchers handle 911 calls for village police and Sag Harbor Village police, as well as calls for the six fire districts that cover East Hampton Town.

"The town highway department has given us a highway truck with a plow to respond with our ambulances and fire services since our ambulance and fire sort of overlap into the town jurisdiction.," Larsen said. The East Hampton Fire Department and East Hampton Village Ambulance Association cover areas such as Northwest Woods, which is outside the village boundary. "Our village highway trucks will respond with EMS to calls within the village," he added.

As of 12:30 p.m., Larsen said there had a been a few calls for minor accidents within the village. There were also several accidents in Springs on Springs-Fireplace Road and in East Hampton on Abraham's Path.

The chief's message to residents? "Stay home, watch a movie, and enjoy the snow. Don't go out."

The EOC will be open for the duration of the storm and can be reached by dialing 631-324-0945.