Residents of San Simeon by the Sound Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Greenport evacuated due to unsafe conditions, officials say

The New York State Department of Health continued to evacuate all residents of a Greenport skilled-nursing facility late Monday after Suffolk fire marshals determined the building's fire suppression and alarm systems were not working.

The fire marshals' investigation came after a smoke condition was reported in a 911 call about 4:30 a.m. Monday at San Simeon by the Sound Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on County Road 48. 

Suffolk County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services coordinated the county transit buses and ambulances from across Long Island that arrived Monday evening to pick up the residents, according to Fire Commissioner Rudy Sunderman.

The residents, some of whom could be seen being wheeled out of the San Simeon lobby on stretchers, were transported to other facilities throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties. Southold Town police told Newsday that 110 residents were being evacuated and taken to other facilities.

"All patients within this facility are safe," Sunderman said outside San Simeon on Monday evening. Behind him, a handful of patients waited in Suffolk County Transit buses parked in front of the facility. Ambulances from agencies in Brentwood, Mastic, Moriches, Port Jefferson, Shirley and other communities were also on standby for patients.

Suffolk fire marshals determined Monday afternoon that the nursing home's "fire suppression system as well as the fire alarms were not functioning properly," Southold Town Police Chief Steven Grattan told Newsday about 6 p.m.

"They decided that it wasn't safe to keep the residence there until all of this is fixed," Grattan said. Officials with the nursing home were not immediately available for comment.

The smoke condition reported at San Simeon remains under investigation, Sunderman said late Monday. That incident lead to responders and nursing home staff evacuating residents to the lobby area as a precautionary measure. Seven residents requiring oxygen were transported to local hospitals — four to Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport and three to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, he said.

Douglas Morris arrived at San Simeon about 6:45 p.m. Monday to join other relatives in comforting his "shooken up" grandmother-in-law, Nannie Morris, before she was evacuated, he said. Douglas Morris planned to pack up the 94-year-old's belongings and follow the ambulance transporting her to The Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton.

"We're all from here; we wanted her to stay here," said Morris, 74, of Greenport. He added that a trip from the North Fork to the south could take up to two hours with traffic. 

"She has to go to whatever receiving facility will take her," he said. "Right now, Southampton is the only one ... We wanted her to go to [Oasis Rehabilitation and Nursing in East Moriches] but they're full too."

Morris said employees of San Simeon informed him in a phone call that his grandmother could not return to the facility in her hometown for "at least 10 days," but he worried it could take longer.

"The last five years she's been here," Morris said. "She's got her friends here, her activities."

Officials with Suffolk County's Emergency Management and the Southold Town police at the scene Monday evening did not know how long the evacuation of the facility would take. State Health Department officials at the scene declined to speak to Newsday.

Suffolk fire officials said firefighters from Greenport, Southold and Mattituck responded to the smoke condition call.