Fire Safety and Prevention Information
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The Long Island North Shore Marine Search and Rescue Team (LINS-MSAR) is a multi-agency response unit which consists of 9 Fire Departments.  This team has designed response protocols and regularly drills together to be ever ready for any water borne emergency which may arise in the Long Island Sound and inland waters from Stony Brook to Riverhead.  The LINS-MSAR Group has just applied for a regional grant from the department of Homeland security to upgrade their command system to include a satellite tracking and navigation system which will allow the command staff a more efficient use of search patterns and resources during an emergency.

This team has also worked closely with the newly formed alliance of the Southold, East Hampton and Southampton town member departments as well.  These alliances allow for standardized response protocols and operational guidelines which allow for near seamless interoperability in the event of any large scale type of mutual aid event.

The need for the intensive training given to teams of this nature is evident in many past incidents in which rescuers became victims. One such incident was an attempt to rescue a worker from a 43 foot deep well in Bristol, New Hampshire. Three firefighters were killed trying to rescue one worker. The worker also died. In Lancaster, Pennsylvania one firefighter and two paramedics died while attempting a rescue from a septic tank. Studies of deaths resulting from permit required confined spaces have shown that as many as sixty percent of the casualties are those attempting the rescue.  In light of the dangers involved in these rescue efforts all members of the team have undergone extensive training at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy. This training includes instruction and drills in over thirty different aspects of confined space/high angle rescue including:

Confined Space Hazards	Rapid Intervention Team	Personal Protective Equipment
Air Quality	Victim Packaging and Removal	Regulations and Standards
Rescue Incident Command System	Tripods and Ladder Rescue Systems	Retrieval Systems
Communications	Rope, Hardware and Mechanical Advantage Systems	Harnesses

Mount Sinai's team has also been active in the formation of the Northern Brookhaven Technical Rescue Taskforce (NBTRT). This task force is composed of confined space rescue teams from Centereach, Mount Sinai, Miller Place, Port Jefferson, Setauket, Stony Brook, and Port Jefferson Volunteer Ambulance Corps along with the State University of New York at Stony Brook's Department of Health and Safety. They are developing a command system and guidelines which will standardize procedures to be followed during a rescue. This will allow a coordinated response from a large base of trained personnel. The members of the task force train every three months as a unit in addition to their training as individual department rescue teams. The need for this type of specialized rescue unit is evident; but making time for all the training necessary is difficult in this busy world. Therefore we are especially thankful that our firefighters and those in the other departments have given so much of their valuable time to create the Mount Sinai Confined Space and High Angle Rescue Unit and the Northern Brookhaven Technical Rescue Task Force.