Leander Arnold knows “every bump” on the route from Springs to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, owing to his 15 years of experience as a volunteer ambulance driver in the Springs Fire Department.
Round trip, an ambulance ride from Springs to the hospital takes between two and three hours, depending on the circumstances. From Montauk, it takes a minimum of three hours, said Jim Grimes, an ambulance driver with the Montauk Fire Department.
Mr. Arnold and Mr. Grimes have spent a combined 101 years in their respective organizations, with some 40 of those aggregate years as ambulance drivers.
“It’s a dangerous job to run,” said Mr. Arnold, who is also commissioner for the Springs Fire District. “There’s a lot of judgement to it: quick judgement, fast judgement. . . . You’ve got to make the right judgement at the right time.”
Each year, Mr. Arnold, a retired contractor, responds to around 100 calls, which adds up to some 1,500 total trips to the hospital since he started driving the ambulance. In Montauk, Mr. Grimes, a local business owner, takes on around 50 calls per year.
“It’s a heavy load, so you’ve got to be extra careful,” Mr. Arnold said. “It’s a full-time job when you’re driving. You’ve got to be focused on that and nothing else. You’re watching peripheral vision, your vision this way and that way, and anything that moves anywhere else. You’ve got to be very alert doing that type of job.”
To add to that heavy load, the driver is “personally responsible” for all the people in the ambulance, the patient and the crew, Mr. Arnold said. “You have to be very careful when you’re driving because a lot of people do crazy things on the road.”
Local ambulance crews are composed of all volunteers, though most departments now have paid paramedics on staff. As the crowds swell in the summer, the local ambulance crews rely on “stalwarts” who have volunteered for years.
“A lot of those guys are sort of the unsung heroes out there because of the level of commitment that they’ve devoted to the organization,” Mr. Grimes said. “Some of those guys that have been at it for a long time — they’re still here, they’re still doing it,” despite the burn-out that talented E.M.T.s and drivers can experience.
With the aid of lights and sirens, Mr. Grimes can clock the trip from Montauk to the hospital in under 30 minutes, while Mr. Arnold can complete the trip from Springs in 23 to 25 minutes. The return trip accounts for the remainder of the two to three hours, as ambulance drivers can’t bypass traffic on the way back.
Mr. Grimes described “choke points” on his route to the hospital where he often encounters traffic congestion: Main Street in Amagansett, Pantigo Road near East Hampton Town Hall, and the traffic light in Water Mill.
“You come through, it’s very dark, you can’t see people,” Mr. Grimes said of Amagansett. Town police, however, do a great job of helping ambulance drivers navigate both car and foot traffic, he said.
On Pantigo Road, he sometimes cuts onto the opposite side of the street, a maneuver which village police are not typically enthusiastic about, Mr. Grimes said.
“We do over 800 calls a year,” Mr. Grimes said of the Montauk ambulance. While he did not have the exact numbers on hand, he estimated that “at least” 60 to 70 percent of those occur in a “two-and-a-half-month period” during the summer.
In total, the Montauk Fire Department has three ambulances ready to respond to 911 calls. So, what happens when all three are being used?
“We have a protocol. There is a system,” Mr. Grimes said. “As soon as that third ambulance is mustering, one of our chiefs will contact dispatch, which will contact Amagansett [Fire Department].” The neighboring hamlet will then place a “rig” on standby at its headquarters to respond to an emergency in Montauk.
“Intuitively,” he added, “if we know we’re going to get another call, we’ll have that ambulance come to Montauk,” referring to the one on “standby” from Amagansett.
“When I started in the fire department,” Mr. Grimes said, “we didn’t have all the gear that we have now, so it was important that you were expeditious with your time. You always approached it with the attitude, ‘we might have another call.’ “ Drivers would not “dilly-dally” because “somebody could freaking die.”
The Montauk Fire Department has eight ambulance squads, with six people per squad. Of those six, typically two are drivers. Striking a balance between his business responsibilities and his volunteer work, Mr. Grimes is on call for one night every eight or so days.
To become a driver in Springs, applicants must take an emergency vehicle operations course and drive an ambulance to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital five times. On one of the practice trips, an experienced driver supervises to ensure everything is being done correctly.
An ambulance costs $250,000, Mr. Arnold said while showing off the interior. Nowadays, stretchers are automatic, which lightens the load for the crew.
Additionally, Mr. Arnold provided some general tips for the public to assist ambulance drivers rushing patients to the hospital.
First, flashing blue lights on civilian vehicles indicate volunteers responding to an emergency scene. Mr. Arnold said that cars should pull over for them, as if they were an ambulance. Second, bicycles (considered vehicles) should ride on the right side of the road, with traffic, while pedestrians should walk on the left side, against traffic. Lastly, he said, “stay off the damn cellphones.”
“We’re concerned about the safety of our citizens, that’s all,” he added.
“It’s a good feeling to help somebody else,” Mr. Arnold said, adding that a woman recently thanked the volunteers in his crew for responding to a call involving her husband. “You hear that, it makes it all worthwhile. I don’t want to be paid for anything.”
