Photo By Eric Durr | New York Army National Guard Soldiers , Spec. Frederick Butt ( left) and Spec. Ryan...... read more read more
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LATHAM, N.Y.--As a two-day snow storm dumped two feet of snow on some parts of New York’s Capital Region on Dec. 1 and 2, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo declared an emergency in seven counties and ordered the deployment of up to 300 members of the New York National Guard following the state capital’s 8th biggest snowstorm on record.
The emergency declaration covered Ulster County, Schenectady County, Saratoga County, Rensselaer County, Greene County, Columbia County, and Albany County. National Guard personnel and equipment were mobilized to assist local governments in dealing with the snow.
The National Guard is “just indispensable in these situations,” Cuomo said.
“I want to thank the National Guard for their great, great service and we are going to be calling on 300 of them to be deployed in these seven counties where we need the most assistance,” he added during a press conference in Kingston, N.Y.
A small number of New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen began reporting for duty at Camp Smith Training Site, near Peekskill, N.Y. New York National Guard Headquarters in Latham, N.Y. and Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia, N.Y. on the evening of Dec. 2 to prepare for more troops who would report in on the morning of Dec. 3.
The 109th Airlift Wing stood up a Joint Task Force headquarters to handle missions in the northern part of the emergency area, while the 53rd Troop Command staffed a Joint Task Force for Hudson Valley missions.
Soldiers from the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade, and the 1156th Engineer Company, and Airmen from the 109th Airlift Wing and 105th Airlift Wing responded to the mission. Volunteers from the New York Naval Militia and New York Guard also mobilized.
Personnel from Joint Task Force Empire Shield reported into Camp Smith and then Stratton Air National Guard Base to assist.
A total of 363 personnel took part in the mission, which kicked off on Monday afternoon, Dec. 2 and ran through, Dec. 7.
This included 234 Army National Guard Soldiers, 114 Air National Guard Airmen, ten New York Guard members and five members of the New York Naval Militia.
The bulk of the missions involved shoveling snow from around 1,621 fire hydrants in towns and villages in Columbia County, Rensselaer County and Schenectady County.
Shoveling the snow from around fire hydrants was a major help to local volunteer fire departments, said Larry Eisen, a captain in the Palmer Engine and Hose Company in Kinderhook.
“We have 106 fire hydrants in the village and we are a volunteer department,” Eisen said. “In a fire, shoveling out the hydrant could add five or six minutes to our response time. This is a real life saver.”
The 1156th Engineer Company also dispatched five LMTV dump trucks to assist in hauling away snow in Schenectady. The Soldiers transported 4,000 tons of snow from city roads to dump points.
The final mission was wrapped up on Saturday, Dec. 7 in Rotterdam with a fire hydrant clearance mission.
| Date Taken: | 12.09.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 12.09.2019 16:15 |
| Story ID: | 354884 |
| Location: | LATHAM, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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