The East Moriches United States Coast Guard Station was closed during a consolidation of stations. When that happened, nine local volunteer fire departments and one ambulance service teamed up to form a coalition picking up the slack to ensure water rescue in the region didn’t miss a beat.
Shinnecock and Fire Island Coast Guard stations remain active, but they are too far away to provide emergency response needed in the area in any consistent way.
Mastic Beach, Mastic, Center Moriches, East Moriches, Eastport, Westhampton Beach, Brookhaven, Bellport, Hagerman, and South Country Ambulance have all joined together forming Marine Response Teams providing a seamless water rescue response on top of the everyday fire and emergency response they already offer on land.
The East Moriches Coast Guard station closed largely due to a lack of manpower. The Guard has been scaling back across the board over the past few years as they face a shortage of recruits.
Bill Biondi, Commissioner of the Mastic Beach Fire Department says, “We understand what is going on in the world today. They are so short-staffed that commanders are washing floors and doing dishes. It was only a matter of time before the Guard started pulling away from units that are not as active.”
Rear Admiral Russell Dash reported that the Guard is short 4,800 members, nearly 10% of its workforce, and said, “recruiting challenges are one of the more immediate crises facing the service services.”
The Guard’s manpower shortage is expected to get worse and it is already impacting their ability to respond to major disasters.
“We are losing our surge force,” he said. “If we had to respond to a hurricane or oil spill or crisis on the southwest border like we have in the past, then you would see some real problems with regard to our ability to maintain our regular missions,” Thomas said.
That’s where local and volunteer fire departments stepped in to save the day and did so with already stretched resources of staff and equipment themselves.
Biondi said there are no hard feelings between the departments and the Coast Guard. Biondi says, “All services are struggling with cuts, mandates, and low enrollment, even the fire service. We are here to support the Coast Guard and help out any way we can.”
The Marine Response Teams also work with Suffolk County Police Department Marine Unit.
Biondi stressed that all of the cooperating departments immediately got on board and began working on their plans. Local fire departments were advised about the reduced Coast Guard staffing and started planning.
“We knew over the last few years they were scaling down. The advance notice gave us time to get our group together, do an equipment inventory, plan for purchasing anything new, and train together,” Biondi said.
The new ‘Marine Incident Response Teams’ signed Mutual Aid Agreements this year codifying their cooperative efforts into a solid plan to provide emergency water rescue response to the area. They have a variety of watercraft and a dive team as part of the effort.
Two cooperative teams have formed based on shoreline geography and all nine chiefs signed the agreements and meet regularly for planning and incident review. Mastic Beach, Bellport Fire, Brookhaven, and Hagerman Fire Departments along with South Country Ambulance Company formed one team.
The mission of this Water Rescue Response Team is to deliver rapid water response to fire, rescue, and other marine incidents occurring along the south shore waterways, spanning from the west side of Smithpoint Bridge in Mastic Beach to Swan River in East Patchogue, This encompasses all rivers, creeks, as well as the Atlantic Ocean west of the Fire Island National Seashore Building, to Watch Hill.
The second team consists of Mastic Beach, Center Moriches, Eastport, Mastic, East Moriches, and Westhampton Beach Fire Departments. They provide emergency water response to south shore waterways between Smithpoint Bridge in Mastic Beach to Quantuck Bay in Westhampton Beach. This includes the Moriches Inlet, all rivers, creeks, and coves as well as the Atlantic Ocean from the Westhampton / Quogue Fire District line west to the Fire Island National Seashore Building.
The Guard does not offer any financial support to the locally operated Marine Incident Teams. When the teams asked about any funding they were told Home Land Security doesn't recognize them. That may be something that gets worked out in the future, but for right now all of the new equipment and training is self-funded by the volunteer fire departments. All of their funding comes from the taxpayers of the local fire districts.
For now, the fire assessment people see on their tax bill remains steady. Biondi’s department did have to spend $300,000 for a boat and equip it with GPS, two motors, and electronics. They bought a surplus boat from the Coast Guard and fitted it out with modern technology. All nine departments have their own boats so this is no small expense for local volunteer fire departments to purchase and maintain.
They have responded to a lot of different kinds of emergencies in the 9-10 communities they serve. Last year they had 26 water rescue calls. They also work cooperatively with local paid towing services that can lend a hand if someone’s boat stalls.
Biondi says their teams are fast, “We get there quick – average time to respond 5-8 minutes.”
They have responded to jet skis and boats that run aground. And last year there were a of couple incidents west of the bridge where the ocean broke through to the bay during nor’easter storms. When the jet skis ran aground, the rescue teams took hovercraft out, rescued the girl waiting on a sand bar that had a broken leg, and transferred her to an ambulance on land.
They have responded to overturned boats in Moriches Inlet rescuing occupants and have even responded to an accident where a bridge worker fell off a boat near a bridge he was working on. The boat was running in circles with no worker to be found. The dive team was put to work to find him. Unfortunately with no life vest and 34-degree water, the man did not survive.