Following a three-month investigation spurred by a town employee's complaints, the state Department of Labor has told Huntington it faces fines for not having an emergency response plan in place to deal with a large-scale disaster.

In a notice of violation issued last month, the state said the town has violated the Public Employee Safety and Health Act of 1980 by failing to have an emergency response plan that outlines procedures for managing natural disasters and hazardous materials release.

The state ordered the town to have the plan finalized and available at various town facilities by Feb. 19 or face a $200 fine for each day after the deadline.

"These are obviously serious violations," said Labor Department spokesman Robert Lillpopp. "Without being remedied they could have a life-threatening effect. If it's not taken care of there's a possibility that somebody could be seriously or fatally injured."

Town officials said there is a plan in place, but acknowledged that the town board never officially adopted it and that it needs revision. Town planners are working to complete a new draft, which town spokesman Don McKay said is nearly complete.

"We're getting very, very close," McKay said. Town officials said they expect to meet the Feb. 19 deadline.

"It obviously needed work. It needed to be updated and it needed to be expanded and that has been done."

Among the things covered in the plan are contingency plans in case of major flooding, massive snow storms, extended electrical outages and evacuation procedures in case of a radiation emergency.

The state's investigation followed complaints from recently retired Town Harbormaster William Perks. Perks' attorney, Ed Yule of Northport, said that during a stint working as the town hazardous materials director in 1999, Perks was alarmed by radiation levels at the town's waste incinerator plant and inquired to superiors about an emergency response plan. He found there was none, Yule said.

The state dismissed Perks' original complaint because of lack of evidence, but launched an investigation in August 2002 after a second complaint by Perks in May. The state's ruling says the town is endangering town employees by not having a plan.

Scott Cullen, spokesman for Standing for Truth About Radiation [STAR], an East Hampton-based radiation safety activist group, said emergency response plans are common in towns and that Huntington was grossly irresponsible for not having one.

"Huntington's close enough to Indian Point," Cullen said of the nuclear power plant located less than 70 miles away in upstate Buchanan. "If the winds blow in a particular direction and there was an accident or attack on Indian Point, Huntington's not that far."

Cullen said while the federal government would probably manage any major disaster, it would be up to Town Supervisor Frank Petrone - a former Federal Emergency Management Agency regional director - and other town officials to handle many details.

"If, for example, people have to be evacuated from a certain area, it's going to be the lower levels of government that play the largest role in that," Cullen added. "For this violation to come down shows they're obviously not doing the most basic of planning."

Josephine Jahier, town director of environmental waste management, said the new plan will not specifically address a nuclear emergency or terrorist attack, but it was a consideration of planners.

"You can't plan for every contingency, but should there be a man-made event in the town, we would look to evacuate the area like everything else," she said.