Babylon sees improved response times for emergency calls in North Amityville

Response times to emergency calls in North Amityville are improving since neighboring fire departments were directed to take the calls by Babylon Town, which canceled its contract with the North Amityville Fire Company in early January.

Town officials became alarmed during the first week in January when response times reached as long as an hour. Amid allegations of harassment, retaliation and financial improprieties, turmoil in the North Amityville company between its board of governors and members led to most of the membership either leaving or being dropped from the roster, town officials said.

Copiague, North Lindenhurst and Amityville fire departments, along with the East Farmingdale Fire Company, have agreed to take North Amityville’s calls.

Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer said Babylon will reimburse the departments, some of which have hired additional paid EMTs to help with the extra workload.

"I want to make sure their taxpayers aren’t shouldering the burden," he said.

Schaffer said the town is working on an agreement with Catholic Health Services and Stony Brook University Hospital to have an ambulance parked in North Amityville to also take calls.

"It’s an additional layer of assistance," he said.

The town already had a mutual aid "safety net," said Gerard Gigante, the town’s commissioner of public safety. When a call comes in to Babylon Central Fire and Rescue Alarm, a department is given three minutes to get a crew together, then mutual aid from nearby departments is sought.

In 2021, 35.2% of North Amityville’s 2,396 calls required mutual aid, more than seven times the average of four other companies whose data was collected by the town. It is unclear from the data how many of the calls were ones North Amityville responded to along with the other departments.

According to town data, from the end of December to early January, North Amityville averaged about 11- to 13-minute response times, but some reached 38 to 45 minutes. Since the departments took over on Jan. 8, response times now average about 8 minutes, with the longest times at 15 minutes.

"We’ve flattened the curve out a lot where we are getting a timely response from the neighboring departments," Gigante said.

Gigante said departments are each averaging one or two North Amityville calls per day.

"This is a slow time of the year," he said. "We know that the longer this goes on, the more stress you put on the system."

Schaffer has called on North Amityville’s board to resign and have a receiver installed to oversee the company’s finances and operations. He said he is hoping to "pull back on the surrounding departments providing the response" by the end of February and fully restore the company.

"There are a lot of good people over there who want to do the right thing and want to serve their community," Schaffer said.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.