Holiday Weekend Kept EMS Crews, Cops Busier Than Usual

While holiday weekends offer a big boost to the local economy, they also mean many more calls for emergency responders, from police to ambulance crews.

This past Fourth of July weekend proved even busier than most holidays, officials said.

"It seems to me, we all kind of expected this based on what the real estate agents were saying with regards to the rentals going fast. We anticipated this summer to be a little it busier," Town Police Chief Ed Ecker said, adding that his department answered 555 calls from Thursday to Sunday. Plus, the Fourth of July fell on Thursday, leaving many to take a four-day weekend.

"We seem to say it every year that we've never seen so many people out here, but this year there was a real big jump in call volume," East Hampton Village Police Chief Jerry Larsen said. He oversees 911 dispatchers in the village that dispatch fire and emergency medical services for the entire town, except Wainscott.

The Bridgehampton Fire Department, which covers that area, is dispatched by Southampton Village.

There were 177 calls for fire and EMS personnel from the agencies East Hampton dispatches between Thursday at 12:01 a.m. and Sunday at 11:59 p.m., Larsen said. Last year, during the same time frame he reported there were 118.

Of the 177, 124 of those calls were just for emergency medical care, summoning the ambulances. The rest are alarms, calls about gas leaks, and reported fires.

East Hampton Village Ambulance Association and Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps handled the bulk of the calls, receiving 37 and 34 calls respectively.

All of the 177 calls, with the exception of 24 calls in Montauk, where there are paid paramedics on call 24 hours a day as part of a new program the fire department instituted this summer, were handled solely by volunteers.

Barbara Borsack, the village deputy mayor who is a longtime emergency medical technician, said East Hampton received 18 calls between 8 p.m. Friday night at 8 p.m. Saturday night.

"It was crazy," Borsack said, adding that there were many serious calls for patients who had difficulty breathing due to the high humidity and lack of air conditioning in their homes.

The newly instituted duty crew ambulances, also known as the tactical ambulance which is on call during the day, are easing the pressure when an agency can't form a crew, Larsen said. "The duty ambulance has been a big help," he said. The program, initiated by the East End Ambulance Association, began on July 1.

According to Borsack, the duty crew ambulance — which is made up of a different ambulance and crew of EMTs on a rotating basis Monday through Sunday — only had to answer one call for East Hampton's ambulance. "Amagansett had to take one when all our ambulances and the TAC ambulance were already out," she said.

Borsack said that while volunteers ran continuously throughout the holiday weekend, many drivers on the road ignored them. She said after driving on a few calls Saturday, she found that most fail to pull over and stop or slow down considerably. "They tend to drive along the shoulder at 40 to 50 mph, which is so dangerous. And of course there are the tailgaters that also drive is crazy, putting so many other people in danger so they can get ahead," she said.

Police never seemed to get a rest, Ecker said. East Hampton Town police answered 120 more calls than they had during the same time frame last year, Ecker said.

So far this year, calls are up 250 over last year. "The bulk of that was the 120 from the weekend," he said.

Calls were up in all areas. Officers responded to 61 aided cases and 33 motor vehicle accidents. A total of 40 arrests were made, just two more than last year. He wasn't sure about how many tickets were written, yet. "Usually when call volume goes up, tickets go down because the guys are just running from call to cal," he said.

Noise complaints saw a big increase from 52 during the same time frame last year to 87 this year. Ecker said 54 town ordinances were issued, as opposed to 29 last year.