Amid continuing frustration over uncleared piles of dead pitch pines along the Napeague stretch left in the wake of the southern pine beetle infestation, the East Hampton Town Board approved millions of dollars in new fire protection contracts at last Thursday’s meeting.
The town will pay East Hampton Village just under $3.9 million in 2026 and just under $4 million in 2027 for fire and ambulance services in the Northwest Fire Protection and the East Hampton Water Supply Districts.
Gerry Turza, the fire and emergency medical services administrator for East Hampton Village, said in a phone call that the East Hampton Village Fire Department fielded 1,412 calls last year across those districts and the village fire district.
The 3-percent increase from 2026 to 2027 aligns with historical hikes, nothing like the huge jump between 2022 and 2023, when the costs rose 32 percent, from just over $2.6 million to nearly $3.49 million.
“This is a very costly business,” Mr. Turza said at Thursday’s town board meeting. “It’s more than just fire trucks going down the road and throwing people in an ambulance and taking them over to an emergency room.”
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d see an ambulance cost $430,000,” Mr. Turza, a 33-year emergency services veteran, elaborated in a phone call. “And that’s an ambulance with no equipment. You add a stretcher, cardiac monitor, suites of radios, refrigeration and Wi-Fi, and now your $430,000 ambulance is $700,000. The public has no idea. They just see what looks like a pickup truck with a big box on its back.”
There are nine fire protection districts in the town.
The smallest, the East Hampton Road Fire Protection District, just south of Sag Harbor Village, will receive coverage from the Sag Harbor Village Fire Department for $41,363 in 2025, with ambulance service provided for $26,447.
That contract, part of a separate resolution at Thursday’s meeting, expires at the end of 2025.
“Everyone is experiencing increases, and we want to work as cooperatively as possible with them,” said Rebecca Hansen, the town administrator. “We need their services.”
Still, the town and village couldn’t come to an agreement this spring on the cost of dispatch services.
For decades, East Hampton Village provided those services to the town for a fee. This year, the town decided the village was asking too much, balked at the price, beefed up its own dispatch staff, hired five new dispatchers in April, and began investing in its own dispatch room.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, the town will begin taking 911 calls originating within its boundaries. Meanwhile, the village signed two-year contracts with the Amagansett Fire Department, Springs Fire Department, and Sag Harbor Fire Department to continue dispatching in those areas.
At last Thursday’s meeting the town board requested price quotes from contractors interested in renovating the East Hampton Town Police Department dispatch room. The quotes are due Sept 10.
In an email, East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said, “We will be setting up an alternate room in our headquarters training center while the construction is ongoing. It will be a fully functional and operational dispatch center. So, while we hope to have it completed by January, we will be fully operational regardless.”
A separate meeting called by the Amagansett Fire Department on Tuesday included East End fire chiefs, representatives of the New York State Parks Department, and members of the town board to review the July brush fire along the Napeague stretch, which is in the Promised Land Fire Protection District, and discuss future strategies to improve access.
The meeting, closed to the public, followed a June Parks Department statement that a fire management plan for the area should be completed by this winter. “I appreciated the opportunity to meet with our local fire chiefs and New York State Parks officials to discuss the recent Napeague stretch fire and review the coordinated work underway at Napeague State Park,” Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said in an emailed statement. “Together with New York State, we are taking important steps to reduce wildfire risk, improve access for emergency response, and develop a comprehensive fire management plan.”
East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen was also at the Amagansett fire chiefs’ meeting. He characterized it as “constructive” and said similar fire road access issues exist in his districts. “I’m responsible for the Northwest, village, and water protection districts; that’s where I’m focused.” He is coordinating with the town Highway Department to clear those areas. (Chris Beckert, the Amagansett Fire Department chief, did not want to comment on the chiefs’ meeting for this article; however, he discussed it at Monday’s Amagansett Citizens Advisory meeting, the subject of a separate article in this week’s paper.)
In a positive development, the new Stony Brook East Hampton Emergency Department could be one reason why emergency medical service calls in East Hampton Village are down this year.
According to Mr. Turza, in 2024, there were 870 ambulance calls by Aug. 12. This year, there were 773.
“The new emergency room is definitely factoring in,” he said. “Our fuel consumption is also down. We’ll have to look at the data after a full year to be sure, but the presence of that emergency room is the leading theory.”
In a final bit of emergency services news, the town board announced an anonymous $50,000 donation to the town Police Department.
Chief Sarlo said the donation was “Intended solely for Police Department equipment needs.” Along with senior staff, he will evaluate the budget and capital projects and after approval from the board, select some items to purchase.
