When Western New York was dealt a major winter storm last month with an entire year’s worth of snow piled up in a matter of days, Onondaga County Employees and first responders made the trip to offer help. Today they were recognized by County Executive Joanie Mahoney for their efforts. She personally received hand-written thank you letters from Erie County Residents.
“...who wrote to say how scary this storm was… how quickly it came on. People were stranded. And when they looked up and saw that there were trucks there with the Onondaga County logo on them and some of our local fire departments and how much it meant to them to see that we had come to help.”
Fire departments from Syracuse, Fairmount and others also made the trip to Erie County. It’s an experience that Battalion Chief Timothy Kennedy of the Baldwinsville Fire Department vividly recalls going to residential neighborhoods.
(Joanie Mahoney asks): “What are you able to do if someone’s walls are cracking and the gas lines are breaking… turn things off ?
(Kennedy): Immediately what we would do is turn the gas lines off and then, typically if the walls were cracking or collapsing, we would have to tell them to evacuate and we would have to tape the entire property off… mark it unsafe.”
And then, Kennedy says a collapse rescue unit would be called in. At least 14 Onondaga County employees, trucks and equipment were sent to the Buffalo area to respond to the snowstorm.
