[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Wappinger 8-27-2007
by L.L. No. 11-2007. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fines — See Ch. 122.
A.
The purpose of this chapter is to promote the health,
safety and general welfare of the people of the Town of Wappinger, New York,
by imposing requirements to insure that the 911 emergency response system
receives notification from ambulance services of any emergency in the Town
of Wappinger that it responds to, in order that properly trained and equipped
first responders can promptly respond to the scene of an emergency. This chapter
is enacted pursuant to the authority granted to the Town by Municipal Home
Rule Law § 10(1) for the protection, safety, health and well-being
of the people of the Town of Wappinger, as well as the traveling, visiting
and sojourning public.
B.
The Town Board hereby finds that ambulance services have
been called to the scene of an emergency within the Town of Wappinger in response
to a telephone request outside of the 911 system. Calls outside of the 911
system may result in the response of multiple ambulances to the scene, or
the call may result in the dispatch of an improperly equipped ambulance or
may result in an increased response time. Calls to ambulances made outside
of the 911 system deprive injured persons at the scene of the emergency the
benefit of the trained and appropriate response from fire companies, police
and other first responders in the 911 system. Calls outside of the 911 system
increase the cost of providing ambulance services to local taxpayers and third-party
insurers.
C.
The Town Board further finds and determines that receiving
calls for ambulance services outside of the 911 system creates dual, uncoordinated
and unnecessary responses on the part of ambulance services, and this constitutes
an unsafe practice.
D.
The Town Board also finds that such unsafe practice interferes
with the emergency medical services provided by the Wappinger Ambulance District
and by volunteer fire departments.
E.
The purpose of this chapter is to stop the abuses and
unsafe practices caused by the uncoordinated and unnecessary response by ambulance
services that have been called for medical assistance outside of the 911 emergency
response system.
The terms "ambulance service," "initial emergency medical assistance"
and "advanced life support services" shall have the same meanings as defined
in Article 30 of the Public Health Law.
Any ambulance service receiving a request for initial emergency assistance
and/or a request for emergency advanced life support services to a location
within the Town of Wappinger shall notify the Dutchess County 911 Dispatcher
of any request for such services prior to dispatching an ambulance, and any
response shall be coordinated and approved by the Dutchess County 911 Dispatcher.
A.
A first offense is punishable by a civil penalty as set forth in Chapter 122, Article V, § 122-20HH(1) of the Code.
B.
A second offense is a violation punishable by a fine, a civil penalty, or both, as set forth in Chapter 122, Article V, § 122-20HH(2) of the Code.
C.
A third offense, and any subsequent offense, is a violation punishable by imprisonment of not more than 15 days, a fine and/or a civil penalty as set forth in Chapter 122, Article V, § 122-20HH(3) of the Code, or any combination of the three.
