by Bea Peterson
The Hoosick Falls Fire Department responds to 120 calls a year on average. On Thursday, September 12, they responded to ten percent of the calls they receive all year. “We’ve been watching these (thunder and lightning) storms all summer,” said Hoosick Falls Fire Chief Carlton Coon. “Most of them went all around us, but Thursday it was right on top of us.” [private]It was right on top of the Village for several hours. There was torrential rain, blustery winds and lightning flashes, followed immediately by, in some cases, house shaking thunder. Blending with the sounds of the storm was the sound of the Village-wide fire siren, followed by screeching police, fire and rescue sirens.
There were some power outages caused by falling trees, several fallen trees that didn’t hit wires, fire alarm activations and sump pumps that weren’t working because of power failures. Fortunately there were no major issues, just one call after another.
The first call was to 1 Liberty Street, Saint Gobain, in response to a fire alarm activation. Fortunately there was no fire, though a sensor did overheat causing one of the machines to be down for a couple of days. The next call was to 19 Congress Street where a tree fell on some wires causing a power failure. The Hoosick and North Hoosick Fire Departments responded to the next call because Hoosick Falls was still at the wires and tree. That call was a fire alarm activation at the Town of Hoosick Rescue Squad. Again, fortunately, it was an alarm malfunction. Next was 26 Munsell Street, another tree on wires, followed by a tree down on Wilder and Main Streets. For a change of pace, the Department responded to a call at the Wood Bridge apartments where some burnt potatoes required temporary evacuation and smoke removal. Next was a response to a tree down at 45 High Street. At 11 Beckett Street a tree landed on wires. That was followed by calls to 15 Beckett Street and 15 Munsell Street where water was filling basements because there was no power and the sump pumps weren’t working. There was also a water problem at 12 Gillespie Street, but, by that time, the power had come back on, and the sump pump began working. Power was off for about an hour and a half. All in all, it was a rather eventful few hours.
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