On Saturday May 22nd at 2337 hours the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps was dispatched to Concern for Independent Living, 260 West Main St for a female on the 4th floor who reported feeling ill.

Upon arrival it was found that the buildings temperature on all 4 floors was in excess of 90 degrees, with no functioning A/C.

The Riverhead Town Fire Marshall was requested by RVAC to respond and assess the situation and attempt to restore AC to the building.

Do to limited access to the system, increasing temperatures, and multiple high risk residents feeling ill, an MCI (Mass Casualty Incident) was declared by Assistant Chief James Alfano, and the building was evacuated. Occupied by 47 residents, evacuations took place on all 4 floors with the assistance of RVAC, RPD, and additional agencies.

2 residents were treated and released at the scene for medical emergencies, and all other 45 residents were assessed for any heat related symptoms.

Departments responding included Riverhead Police Department, Riverhead Fire Department, Flanders Ambulance, Westhampton Ambulance, East Quogue Fire Department, Hampton Bays Ambulance, Mastic Beach Ambulance, Suffolk County Fire Rescue & Emergency Services MERV, American Red Cross, and the Wading River Fire Department stood by at RVAC’s HQ to respond to any additional calls in the town.

Management staff was able to get in contact with their A/C company, and they responded to attempt to mitigate the issue. At approximately 3:30am, the buildings AC was operational and the building was at a safe temperature to allow the residents to return to their rooms. Crews stayed on the scene to insure residents were safely returned to their rooms and not experiencing any medical problems.

A special thank you to the following members of the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps listed below for their hard work during this event, as well as The Riverhead Police Department Communications & Suffolk County Fire Rescue Communications Centers --

Lieutenant Lisa Fitz, Paramedic Joseph Oliver, Paramedic Phillip Massaro, EMT Chris Coscia, EMT CC Michael Caron, EMT Deborah Suprina, EMT Gil Cardillo, EMT Amelia Vega, EMT Elmahdi Issam, EMT Keith Lewin, EMT Adrian Pezzica, EMT Matthew Dinson, Madison Messina, Isabel Roccaro, William Doyle, John Wojciechowski