Residents on the west end of Rocky Point no longer have to wait long for urgent medical attention thanks to a new paramedic station right in their backyard.
The Rocky Point Fire District unveiled a newly renovated first responder’s office building July 3, along with an EMS vehicle garage on 89 Hallock Landing Road that will give residents in the area closer access to paramedics, who previously had to travel from the far east end of the district at Shoreham Fire Company 3 to provide for those in emergency situations. John Buchner, chairman of the board of the fire district, was the initiator and prime mover behind this project.
The new location, across the street from the Rocky Point Fire Department, cuts a paramedic’s response time down about five minutes, which could be the difference between life and death, District Vice Chairman Kirk Johnson said.
“If you have chest pains and you can’t breathe, you want somebody there as quickly as possible,” Johnson said, pointing to heavy traffic on Route 25A as a main reason for the delay in response. “We wanted to even out the protection of the district and now we can get the first responder to the front door quicker on the west side of town.”
Paramedic Rob DeSantis believes it will be a great help to responders and residents alike.
“Driving from Shoreham to here is difficult, and coming from here, we beat all that traffic,” DeSantis said. “Response time has lowered incredibly. Give it four or five months when they do statistics on different responses, you’re going to see a big change in time.”
The paramedic headquarters sits on .92 acres of what had long been a mostly abandoned stretch of property, which includes a 2,000 square foot building previously used as a community church known as the Parish Resource Center, and what were once two rotted buildings seemingly beyond repair.
In March, the fire district bought the entire property, including the buildings, for $250,000, allocating from its capital reserve budget, and got to work to turn the eyesore into a vital part of the community.
Starting May 5, firefighter and go-to maintenance man Rob Bentivegna renovated the roofs, gave new paint jobs and transformed the termite-infested remains of one of the buildings into an administrative paramedic office stocked with a kitchenette and lounge area. Out of the other building he set up a maintenance facility for repair needs. The new, expansive garage on the property will help with the fire district’s lack of storage space for its vehicles. As for the church, members of the district hope to utilize its basement for fire and EMS training classes in addition to the Suffolk County Fire Academy in Yaphank, as well as meetings with neighboring departments and town associations.
“We have had a lot of compliments from a lot of the community — they’re like ‘oh, it’s great what you guys have done,’” Johnson said. “People hear the fire department bought this property, and figure it’ll just level everything and put a bunch of fire trucks there, but no, it’s part of the community.”
