Grand Island Fire Co.: Island spared worst of ice storm damage

by Ray Pauley

Public Information Officer

Grand Island Fire Co.

Grand Island Fire Chief Kevin Koch reports Grand Island firefighters responded to 12 storm-related incidents during a seven-hour period on Sunday, Dec. 22. Most of these early-morning calls involved instances of flooding, power lines down, and transformer failure, but no major structural damage, he noted.

Emergency responses began at 3:58 a.m. with a Staley Road flooded basement call, where the homeowner was advised of proper remedial action.

Other responses included:

• 4:17 a.m., at West Park Road, for a blown transformer, which caused a local power outage.
• 5:03 a.m., at East River Road, for a fire alarm that was accidental in nature.
• 5:17 a.m., at Baseline Road, for a tree limb on a power line that caused arcing. National Grid was notified.
• 5:57 a.m., at Kirkwood Drive, for primary lines down. National Grid was notified.
• 6:18 a.m., at Whitetail Run, for a flooded basement, which was resolved by the homeowner with aid of a sump pump.
• 7:09 a.m., at Baseline Road for a second call at this location for arcing power lines. National Grid was again notified.
• 8:07 a.m., at West River Road, for wires down. Phone and cable companies were notified.
• 8:30 a.m., at Whitehaven Road, for power lines down. National Grid was notified.
• 9:03 a.m., at Carl Road, for a CO detector call. No hazard found.
• 9:30 a.m., at Baseline Road, for a tree branch on power lines. National Grid was notified.
• 11:08 a.m., at The Commons, for a CO detector alarm found to be a low (nonhazardous) parts per million reading.