Maki Becker
The Buffalo News, N.Y.
(TNS)

Dec. 24—All night long, desperate calls flooded 911.

In many cases, no help was on the way.

The blizzard was so fierce Friday night that many emergency responders in Buffalo and the Northtowns just couldn’t get to where they were needed.

About 200 people in Buffalo alone were believed to have been stuck in their vehicles overnight, stuck in snowbanks and blinding whiteout conditions.

At the same time, fire trucks were getting stuck and firefighters had to temporarily abandon their vehicles. Police cars and ambulances were getting stuck, too.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at an 8 a.m. storm briefing that there was no emergency service in Buffalo, the Town of Tonawanda, Cheekotwaga, Clarence, Lancaster, Williamsville and Kenmore. He said two-thirds of emergency vehicles in the worst affected areas got stuck and were out of commission.

Buffalo was “ground zero” for the storm that continued to rage Saturday, he said.

Midmorning Saturday, Mayor Byron W. Brown said that “limited” emergency services were available but that police and firefighters were still struggling to get to calls.

“Last night and overnight, ambulances that got stuck and needed to be dug out. We had police cars that got stuck. Fire trucks got stuck. National Grid crews were not able to get to where they needed to go to do restoration. With the whiteout conditions, the visibility is zero,” Brown said. “… It’s an extremely dangerous situation. This storm is giving us everything that has been forecast.”

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said police were doing what they could in the city. They rescued about 65 people who were stranded in their vehicles overnight.

But they were struggling to most of their calls, which included people having medical emergencies, people lying in the street and others who had lost power and were freezing in their homes.

One especially dire situation: a mother who was manually operating her 1-year-old baby’s ventilator all night long after losing power.

“If we could get there, we would,” Gramaglia said. “It is so bad out.”

Gramaglia pleaded with the public to stay home and not try to venture out.

If you get stuck, he said, “the likelihood of us getting to you is very small. Do not go out on the streets. You will get stuck. The city is getting hammered and it’s all throughout the city.”

Police have received calls about “unresponsive” people in vehicles but Gramaglia said because of the conditions, police can’t get to them to check on them.

Midday Saturday, authorities learned of a dead body at Bailey and Kensington avenues. “Due to the blizzard conditions, police are coordinating efforts to retrieve the body,” police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said in a statement.

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#icey roads make for increased risks for responding emergency services. In North Braddock while responding to a house fire on Hawkins ave, a Salvation Army vehicle struck a fire truck and a parked car. @WPXI @WPXIWeather pic.twitter.com/BRxxb2b85F

— Steve Pierce (@Steve_WPXI) December 24, 2022

A vehicle crashed into a fire truck while emergency crews battled a house fire in Allegheny County, wpxi.com reported.

Firefighters began responding to reports of a house fire on Hawkins Avenue in North Braddock at around 1:30 p.m. Saturday, the report said.

A firefighter at the scene said a Salvation Army truck lost control and hit a fire truck that was responding to the scene. The Salvation Army truck also hit a nearby parked car, according to the report.

Allegheny County dispatchers said one person was taken to the hospital, but it is currently unclear if they were injured during the fire or the crash, the report said.

On behalf of the family of Chief Bobby Halton, we would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of support during this very difficult time. The tributes, messages and photographs are a testament to the legacy of Marcia’s devoted husband and the father of Dean, Ryan, and Evan.

The family will hold a private service on January 5, 2023 at the Halton’s church in Collinsville, Oklahoma. 

A public memorial service will be announced at a later date and will take place in Indianapolis, Indiana during FDIC 2023. 

By Alan M. Petrillo

Cornelia (GA) Fire Department protects a city fire district in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Northeastern Georgia with a combination department of 19 paid full-time and volunteer firefighters from two fire stations. When the department found it needed two new pumpers, it checked out a Marion Body Works pumper built for the adjacent city of Clarksville, and liking what it saw, the department chose Marion to build it two identical engines.

Calvin Kanowitz, marketing and dealer development manager for Marion, says the two idential Cornelia pumpers are built on a Spartan Gladiator chassis and LFD cabs with 10-inch raised roof and seating for four firefighters, three of them in SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) seats. Kanowitz notes the pumpers are powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission, and carry a Waterous CSU 1,500-gallon per minute (gpm) single stage pump, an UPF Poly® III 750-gallon water tank, a 30-gallon foam tank, and a Waterous Aquis 3.0 foam proportioning system.

Kanowitz adds that the UPF L-style tank is much higher in the front up against the back of the cab, allowing Marion to give Cornelia the low hose bed on the engines that they requested. The pumpers also have a 1,250-gpm Task Force Tips Crossfire® deck gun with an 18-inch TFT Extend-A-Gun, ground ladders in a compartment above the water tank, and high rise packs and a TFT Blitzfire® hose line above the ladder compartment.

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