Firefighters help stranded motorists in Lackawanna

Staff Reports Posted 19 November 2014 at 12:00 am

Photos courtesy of Rocky Sidari

Firefighters from Orleans County have used all-terrain four-wheelers to check on stranded motorists in Lackawanna. Firefighters have been transporting some of the motorists, who were stranded in their cars for more than 16 hours.

They took the motorists to a fire hall in Lackawanna. One person, a diabetic, was transported by firefighters and would later have to be taken by ambulance for medical treatment, said Albion Fire Chief Rocky Sidari.

It took firefighters from Orleans County 1 ½ hours to drive 9 miles from Cheektowaga to Lackawanna last night. Erie County has been in a state of emergency due a monstrous storm that dropped about 5 feet of snow.

Firefighters aren’t sure how long they will be assisting in Erie County.

“Thankfully it has stopped snowing,” Albion Fire Chief Rocky Sidari said this morning at about 7.

But another storm is due to hit the Buffalo area tonight and Thursday.

Firefighters from four fire companies in Orleans County are assisting in the snow-battered Buffalo area. They brought along a snowmobile and three off-road four-wheelers.

The Albion Fire Department is providing the snowmobile, an off-road vehicle and seven firefighters. Two Carlton firefighters have volunteered, as well as two from Clarendon and three from Lyndonville. Clarendon and Lyndonville also brought off-road four-wheelers.

Carlton Fire Chief Andrew Niederhofer is among the local firefighters in Lackawanna, checking on stranded motorists. He is pictured inside a vehicle with a wall of snow outside.