As this story is being written on Saturday morning, an army of firefighters from companies as far afield as Stottville in the central part of the county, Clermont in the southeast, Austerlitz in the northeast, and Lebanon Valley in the northern part of the county are responding to calls about flooded basements, downed power lines, and smoke investigations.

New York State Trooper Mike Ramirez, who answered calls to the county’s emergency command center, reported that three emergency shelters are presently open. They are located at the:

• Ichabod Crane High School, 2910 Route 9, Valatie
• Stuyvesant Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, Stuyvesant
• Hudson Middle School, 102 Harry Howard Avenue, Hudson

Columbia County Emergency Operations Center reported an estimated 85 residents spent Friday night in emergency shelters set up around the county. Residents still needing assistance should call the center at 828-1212.

The county remains in a state of emergency with no unnecessary travel recommended. The Taconic State Parkway is closed from Claverack to the Dutchess County line.

With torrential rains freezing on tree limbs, power lines, and utility poles, calls for help began flooding the Columbia County 911 center at approximately 7 p.m. on Thursday and continued through the night and into the day on Friday. “It was one of the busiest nights ever. . . . I have no idea how many calls we had. The calls came in one right after the other,” said a raspy-voiced Columbia County 911 Dispatcher Richard Lindmark on Saturday.

Every volunteer firefighting agency in the county—approximately thirty-three in all—was activated Thursday evening, responding to countless calls for assistance, blocking traffic where electrically charged power lines and poles had fallen across roadways, and helping frightened residents whose homes had been were damaged—or crushed—by falling trees.

Utilizing the main dispatching frequency and three others usually reserved for on-scene operations, the 911 center continuously—often without taking a breath between dispatches—sent firefighters, EMS personnel, and police officers to countless emergency situation.

Working structure fires—likely storm-related—were reported during the height of the crisis on Thursday evening and early Friday in the Tri-Village section of Chatham, as well as in Austerlitz, where homes were reported heavily damaged by fire. Numerous fire companies, already handling countless calls for assistance in their own districts, were summoned to the scenes by the Tri-Village and Austerlitz fire companies.

“Wires down and pump-outs were the majority of the calls,” said Lindmark.

Another structure fire summoned weary firefighters out on Friday, this time in Stuyvesant, where crews from Stuyvesant, Stuyvesant Falls, Stottville, Stockport, and Kinderhook extinguished a basement fire.

“The last time we had anything like this, it was the October of 1987 storm [which was caused by a significant, wet snowfall that leveled trees, power lines, and the like] . . . but I think that this may be more widespread in the area it has impacted,” the one longtime firefighter and fire chief said Friday.

With ice-laden tree branches still crashing down Saturday morning and power out to thousands of county residents, fire crews across the county were once again called upon to respond to countless calls for assistance. Firefighters aged 18 to 80—weary from little or no sleep in the past 48 hours but nonetheless willing to provide assistance to their neighbors—responded across the county. Emergencies like this are what brings out the best in volunteers.

Lindmark said the presence of additional 911 dispatchers made the difference throughout the storm. Instead of the standard two or three dispatchers working, five were on duty throughout Thursday and Friday, allowing three dispatchers to field the enormous number of calls and two to activate the dispatch tones that alert firefighters to an emergency and send them on their way.

“Thank God we were in the new [911 dispatch] center, because we had extra dispatch slots to handle the call volume,” he said.

Aiding the firefighters and community were a host of other volunteers—Red Cross shelter operators, fire auxiliary members who provided sustenance to the firefighters, and volunteer EMS personnel.

“It was amazing,” said Lindmark of the effort and storm.

Editor’s Note: ccSCOOP reporter Mike McCagg is a member of the Stottville Volunteer Fire Department. He was one of the many volunteer responders who spent the past 48 hours dealing with this winter storm emergency.