Ambulance Sirens Too Loud Near Uptown Hospital, Petition Says

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — Hundreds of Manhattanites have signed a petition created by a local State Assemblyman asking Mount Sinai Hospital to lower the volume of its ambulance sirens.

O'Donnell created an online petition in May requesting the hospital system, which has its St. Luke's campus in his Morningside Heights district, to reduce EMS sirens to more "reasonable" decibel levels. The State Assemblyman started the petition after "many letters" to the hospital failed to get a result.

"While we understand that emergency vehicles should have the technology necessary to ensure quick response to emergencies, the volume increase and non-standard use of Mount Sinai's sirens over the past year have become decidedly un-neighborly," O'Donnell wrote in the petition.

More than 900 people have signed the online petition since it was created. Many people who signed the petition left comments such as "Mt Sinai is abusing its siren privileges" and claiming the hospital's ambulance drivers are "extremely uncaring in the use of their sirens." Another signer echoed a popular New York City catchphrase: "THE VOLUME IS TOO DAMN HIGH!!!"

Mount Sinai upgraded its ambulance fleet in 2017 with two-tone sirens that the hospital found less grating, WNYC reported in 2017. The move was made to cut down on noise complaints. Because car manufacturers are better are reducing the amount of outside noise heard inside vehicles, ambulances have had to ramp up the volume of sirens to let drivers know when to get out of their way, according to the report.

A spokeswoman for Mount Sinai hospital did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

A number of City Council members including Helen Rosenthal, Carlina Rivera, Margaret Chin, Ben Kallos and Brad Lander introduced a bill this year that would require city police, fire and ambulance vehicles to transition to two-tone sirens within the next two years. The bill is currently before the council's Committee on Environmental Protection, according to legislative records.