Community rallied together to assist the Town of Batavia during the New Year’s storm
By Mike Pettinella
For Video News Service
(Provided photos)
Batavia Town Supervisor Gregory Post believes it was “the grace of God” that spared the life of a highway department employee whose heavy-duty pickup truck was crushed by a huge tree that fell during a violent storm late last month.
Post took several minutes during Wednesday night’s town board meeting to convey his heartfelt thanks and appreciation for the way the community rallied together in the face of the near tragedy around 11 a.m. Dec. 29 and continues to do so during the ongoing extreme weather conditions in January.
“I would like to mention at this time the gratitude I have for the staff members and the members of this community who contributed over the last week and a half or two weeks in assisting the staff who have been working through some of these unbelievable environmental conditions outside,” Post said.
“Near hurricane wind events and these unbelievable snowfalls and the constant round-the-clock need to be available for other responders and utility companies. And how well everyone in this organization and this community has done – collaboratively.”
The supervisor offered “special recognition” to the Armbrewster family for providing food to snowplow drivers and to Ashley Brownell, Patti Michalak and Dan Underhill for delivering “care packages” to highway and water/sewer department employees.
He then talked about the tree that fell on the moving pickup truck.
“I would also like to comment on the grace of God protecting this staff from a couple of incidents that could have been much different and ended in a potential bereavement rather than a celebration of life,” he said.
“One instance we had was an enormously heavy sugar maple tree fall on a moving snowplow on East Avenue in the hamlet of East Pembroke during the peak of a windstorm while they were plowing and standing that road.”
Continuing, he said, “If you don’t believe in a higher power, this should convince you that there is something out there that protected the operator of that vehicle. That tree trunk hit probably 18 inches behind the cab of the truck he was seated at. It crushed the salter, the dump body and the frame. It drove the sander wheel and the actual spinner into the pavement. Stopped the truck instantly.
“It just crushed the trunk flat. A limb attached to the leader that hit the dump body, smashed the can of the truck on the passenger side, broke the windshield — missing this person by a matter of inches.”
Post reported that power wires fell on the truck – “high voltage electric wires then enshrouded the trunk and the tree.”
“No one was seriously injured in that,” he said, noting “the response from the fire department and National Grid (and) his ability to extricate himself safely without any permanent injury. He was pretty stiff and sore.”
Post also talked about another incident involving a town truck that occurred just hours after the tree fell on the plow.
“Another truck had an episode where a component failure that had never been experienced in 50 years contributed to a grease fire on two wheels of a heavy-duty snowplow in a very remote part of the town in a white-out condition,” he said.
“The fact that the driver was able to not only avoid injury but put out the flames using the snow at hand and get the truck back to the shop and get it to a place where they could be repaired (was remarkable).”
Earlier in the meeting, the town board approved a resolution that acknowledged the agencies and towns that provided assistance during a severe storm on Dec. 30-31 and Jan. 1.
The resolution stated that the work involved clearing and removing trees, debris, snow and ice from roads while navigating near hurricane-velocity winds and resulted in the incidents described in the preceding paragraphs of this story.
Highway department personnel from the towns of Alabama, Oakfield and Stafford as well as East Pembroke fire department members were commended in the resolution for providing valuable assistance to the town.
In a related development, the board approved purchasing a new Ford F 350 dump truck from low bidder Van Bortel Ford of East Rochester at a cost of $94,750 plus $10,000 for accessories and detailing to replace the dump truck that was destroyed by the falling tree. Board members reported that the town received payment of $96,471 from its insurance company for the 2020 model vehicle.
The board also approved the purchase two new Ford F-150 pickups from Van Bortel Ford at a cost of $138,529.32
I’m genuinely happy to hear that no one was hurt; however, they know that this is dangerous work. When someone nearly survives a serious accident while doing said dangerous work, it’s not proof of divine intervention. That’s a huge leap. There is no evidence linking an almost fatal accident with a deity.