Will aid police with evacuations
The Putnam County Legislature on Tuesday (Sept. 3) authorized the creation of a task force of firefighters and ambulance corps members who will help evacuate and triage victims in emergency situations.
Legislators voted unanimously to approve the task force at the request of Robert Lipton, commissioner of the Bureau of Emergency Services. Its members will receive training from the Sheriff’s Office.
Lipton told the Legislature’s Protective Services Committee last month that the task force will take directions from the police agency in command at rapid-response incidents, such as a shooting. When cleared by police, the task force members will remove victims, said Lipton.
“This way, they can start triage and start delivering them to hospitals,” he said.
Tthis task force was already in place after being formulated by a member of what was then the Sheriff Office’s Emergency Response Team. Members of the Bureau of Emergency Services were training with the ERT team in 2021 when they responded to a mall shooting in Danbury, Connecticut. It’s shameful that someone is taking credit for something that already existed.
Langley is the former Putnam County sheriff.