As we come to the close of the year 2011 we are reviewing our numbers for types of incidents and injuries that affected everyone in the Emergency Services going to and working the incidents.
Without a doubt, the storms in August, September and October were of great concern to all of us. These storms came thru areas of our county and the upstate counties in places that in recent years never experienced the amount of water and wind damage that brought hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. The fire, police and EMS units responded and did a great job helping those who were in trouble. This help was done thru pump outs, swift water rescues and use of portable generators for power interruptions that caused issues for refrigeration of food, lighting, and operations of water wells etc. The State Fire Mobilization and Mutual Aid Plan were activated for 27 days, the longest ever, with 776 pieces of equipment responding from all over the state. This activation was the largest since the plan was put in place.
The damage to compete areas of villages and Cities, Binghamton, Owego, Bainbridge, Sidney and others, involved waste water plants over run by flood waters, flooded buildings and homes, roadways and highways closed due to washouts ( Rt 17, I-81, I-88, I-86) railroads had track and property washed away, and let’s not forget the wildlife and farm animals and how they had to move to be safe in open fields and forests that were affected by flood waters, and winds that brought down trees and flying debris.
We were proud to assist each other and new friendships are now in place. Sullivan County sent a number of fire units to several counties just above us and each firefighter I spoke with coming home felt that they did accomplish their job – we helped those who needed us!
As we move into 2012 we will continue to train for the incidents that we are expected to respond. There has been much discussion on well drilling for natural gas and time will tell if it will be allowed. Our goal will always be to be ready and training for incidents that might happen with the drilling. We will need awareness level classes on well drilling, and operations of a production well. There will be also be a need for training in three other areas: high angle rescue, industrial accidents and heavy truck rescue. All of these classes are being discussed at the state level at OFPC and we will keep track of their development.
Be safe and everyone comes home.