Hawthorne 7/12/06

[Guest x2371]

I just drove through 9a, It is unbeleivable. Words can't describe the devestation and was told the Stephens drive is 10 times worse, but couldn't get through over there. After seeing what happened I can't believe no one was killed. It was too dark for pics but I got one or two.

[GFD70 4]

Just to add:

Greenville FD responded with the Squad 6 Collapse Trailer along with Hartsdale and Fairview FD's.

[RocklandFires 44]

These photos were taken @ 16 Saw Mill River Road @ the California Closet Company in Hawthorne, which was the hardest hit area.

The complete set of photos can be viewed at RocklandFires.com as usual. The direct link to the photos is: Hawthorne Tornado

The videos can be viewed on my YouTube.com site. The direct link to my account is: My YouTube Videos

[27east 19]

DEP Police were also on scene.

[Guest]

I believe New Rochelle sent a few other units. I thought I heard E19, R4, R54, and 2303 over my scanner.

[Guest]

NYSP cruiser lifted and spun around ?!! WOW! I wish him a speedy recovery and return to duty.

July 13, 2006

Tornado in Westchester Tosses Around Trees and Damages Property

By LISA W. FODERARO

THE NEW YORK TIMES

WHITE PLAINS, July 12 — A reported tornado touched down in central Westchester County on Wednesday, heavily damaging a commercial building on Route 9A, knocking down trees and physically lifting a state trooper’s car and twirling it around.

The twister, first spotted crossing the Hudson River and described as looking like a water spout, touched down at least twice, according to reports made to the National Weather Service.

It moved over the village of Sleepy Hollow, then into the town of Mount Pleasant, where it did the most damage in the hamlet of Hawthorne.

It was in Hawthorne that the state trooper, who was driving on Route 9A, encountered the storm..

“His car was picked up in the air and spun around,†said Andrew J. Spano, the Westchester County executive.

The trooper, whose name was not released, was taken to Westchester Medical Center with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, Mr. Spano said. No one else was seriously injured.

On Route 9A, the two-story brick home of California Closets was damaged so badly that passers-bys could look into the building and out again onto a restaurant on the other side.

Glass and shredded metal remained scattered on the roofs of cars in the parking lot, which were abandoned by the approximately 40 employees who had been evacuated. Inside the building, black wires drooped from the ceiling like industrial vines.

A nearby preschool was evacuated, with 40 children and 15 staff members taken to the Westchester Police Academy.

In parts of Westchester, snapped electrical wires were sparking in water puddles and, in some cases, creating small flames.

The severe thunderstorms that accompanied the tornado also knocked out power to 4,000 residents in Westchester and 1,800 in Connecticut and parts of northern New Jersey.

Metro-North Railroad service on the Harlem line between Valhalla and Hawthorne was disrupted after seven large trees toppled onto the tracks. Marjorie Anders, a spokeswoman for Metro-North, said no trains were stuck and no one was injured.

Ms. Anders said the fallen trees were observed by train engineers beginning at 3:50 p.m., the same time that the National Weather Service started to field damage reports from a possible tornado.

Throughout the area, the police closed roads where trees had fallen just before the afternoon rush, snarling traffic.

All service on the Upper Harlem line was suspended until about 5 p.m., as crews with chains and chainsaws cleared the trees from the northbound track. Service resumed for northbound passengers, while about 15 buses were used to transport southbound passengers, Ms. Anders said.

The tornado sightings came one day after another burst of wild weather in Westchester. On Tuesday, severe thunderstorms and high winds knocked down many trees in the town of New Castle, which is immediately north of Mount Pleasant. Several roads there were closed, including two major state routes.

According to Todd Miner, a meteorologist at Pennsylvania State University, tornados are “relatively rare†in the Northeast. He said that tornados, which are spawned by intense thunderstorms, arise when there is wind shear, the phenomenon of winds changing speeds and direction with increasing altitude.

However, just a few weeks ago, a tornado touched down in La Grange, in Dutchess County, damaging property but leaving no one injured.

In November 1989, a powerful tornado elsewhere in the Hudson Valley killed nine schoolchildren when it blew in the wall of an elementary school in East Coldenham, in Orange County.

On Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for southern Westchester County and for Fairfield County in Connecticut, as well as a less urgent tornado watch across a much broader area, including New Jersey.

Most of the warnings were lifted by the evening, but flood watches remained in effect overnight for northern New Jersey, southern Connecticut, and Rockland and Westchester Counties.

Tornado aftermath: 1,700 without power; 9A, 22, 134 closed

THE JOURNAL NEWS

By WILL DAVID

AND CAREN HALBFINGER

(Original Publication: July 13, 2006)

as of 7:35 AM

Consolidated Edison crews were working furiously this morning to restore power to 1,700 customers in Westchester who lost their electricity by yesterday's storm, which featured a powerful tornado. Several roads also remained closed.

POWER OUTAGES

D. Joy Faber, a spokeswoman for the utility company, said most of the customers still without power were in Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, New Castle, Hawthorne and Mount Pleasant.

As many as 5,000 customers lost power throughout Westchester yesterday when the quick-strike storm slammed through the midsection of the county. It tore down trees, power lines, caused a Hawthorne building to collapse and even lifted a car and turned over a truck in its path.

"This was pretty intense," Faber said this morning. "The crews were working all night."

Faber said downed trees were causing havoc for the workers who had to cut up and remove the trees before they could even get to restoration of the power lines.

There were other reports of power outages across Westchester such as in Dobbs Ferry where police said that Children's Village was still without power.

Con Edison is asking anyone who sees down lines to stay away from them and call the utility company at 1-800-75CONED.

ROADS

Tornado damage will keep some roads closed through rush hour today.

The state Department of Transportation reported Route 9A remained closed to traffic in both directions from Route 100C, Grasslands Road in Greenburgh, to Route 117, Bedford Road, in Mount Pleasant.

Although last night emergency officials had hoped to have Route 9A open by rush hour today, Westchester County police say they now anticipate it will remain closed during that time.

The section of the Saw Mill River Parkway that was closed has reopened. Only the ramp at Exit 25, which leads to Route 9A, is still closed.

Route 22 remains closed in both directions at the Route 120 intersection in North Castle.

Route 134 also is closed in both directions at the IBM plant.

Edited July 13, 2006 by hoss

[Guest]

YONKERS???? NEW RO.????? WONDER IF THEY'LL CALL US ONE DAY??? NOT

[ex-commish 490]

This has no place here. Please remove.

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I agree. They were a big help to us as were all agencies involved in this incident. If you have issues with who was there or anything about the incident feel free to contact me.

[RDUNC67 1]

YONKERS???? NEW RO.?????  WONDER IF THEY'LL CALL US ONE DAY??? NOT

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What a joke...

[x242Steve 1]

delete

Edited July 13, 2006 by 242steve

[DOC22 1]

QUOTE(LADLT @ Jul 13 2006, 07:31 AM)

YONKERS???? NEW RO.????? WONDER IF THEY'LL CALL US ONE DAY??? NOT

I agree. They were a big help to us as were all agencies involved in this incident. If you have issues with who was there or anything about the incident feel free to contact me.

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What a joke...

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Let's keep this topic on course! let's keep it within its scope?

Edited July 13, 2006 by DOC22

[Guest]

Stevens Ave., Hawthorne

credit: Steve Adamec/Journal News

[Guest]

Don't turn the hydrant ??

credit: Steve Adamec/Journal News

Edited July 13, 2006 by hoss

[BedfordFire 7]

Great videos on YouTube, Photofires! Did anyone by chance catch footage of the twister or twisters? Also, did anyone here respond on a marine unit initially, when the waterspout was in the Hudson River?

[calhobs 110]

Great videos on YouTube, Photofires! Did anyone by chance catch footage of the twister or twisters? Also, did anyone here respond on a marine unit initially, when the waterspout was in the Hudson River?

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Not to bash or anything, but why would you respond while it is in the river, wouldnt you wait until it past for saftey. I mean i never faced this issue i could be wrong.

[RocklandFires 44]

Great videos on YouTube, Photofires! Did anyone by chance catch footage of the twister or twisters? Also, did anyone here respond on a marine unit initially, when the waterspout was in the Hudson River?

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Thanks, appreciate it. We responded up on the deck of the bridge for the boat in distress under the bridge, but it turned out to be unfounded. My Asst. Chief works in Westchester and was coming across the bridge when the Tornado came from the South Nyack/Grandview area and entered the Hudson River. He was 1/2 a mile away when it crossed the deck of the TZ Bridge. He called 44 Control 1st and notified them. He then called 60 Control and told them it was heading directly into Tarrytown where the old GM Plant was. He said it was a real crazy site.

Credit to the Photographer of these photos: Steve Adamec & the Journal News [lohud.com]. He took these photos as the Tornado 1st entered Hawthorne.

Edited July 13, 2006 by Photofires

[valhalla2481 2]

I agree. They were a big help to us as were all agencies involved in this incident. If you have issues with who was there or anything about the incident feel free to contact me.

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andy, you did the right thing I was always prepared to call Yonkers and New Rochelle for any collapses when I was chief. After taking classes taught by John reed and Bill Fitzpatrick I learned how ready they were for any situation.Billy Fitz explained to us all the training and equipment they had available, so from my point of view you did th eright thing.

[Guest]

THIS GOES OUT TO EVERYONE,

I'M AN OFFICER IN ELMSFORD. I'M THE REAL LADLT. I DID NOT WRITE THAT ABOUT YONKERS AND NEW ROCHELLE. IF ANYTHING I WISH EVERYONE WHERE THERE CAUSE I SAW THE DESTRUCTION. I SAW MY SITE NAME BROWSING THROUGH THE PICTURES. I'M MORE UPSET OVER IT THEN YOU ARE. I FEEL THAT IT WAS SOMEBODIES WRONG DOING.. IF IT CAUSED ANYONE TO GET UPSET, I APOLOGIZE ON MY BEHALF. GOOD JOB OUT THERE MEN & WOMEN FROM ALL OVER. BE SAFE.

Edited July 13, 2006 by LADLT

[mfc2257 464]

Andy –

When you have a moment, maybe you could share with everyone some of the experiences that you and your men had during this incident. Lessons learned based on not only the destruction and danger, but responding, utilizing the teams from your standard mutual aid departments, but also Yonkers, New Rochelle, Fairview, Greenville, and Greenburgh in addition to any other areas that in your mind stand out as items that should be shared with others.

If this incident happened again, is there anything in your mind that you would do differently, the same, build upon, etc.

[Lieut2 0]

Don't forget White Plains Fire Rescue #88 same capabilities as the other cities.

[FirNaTine 370]

I believe FDMV also had their Field Support Unit enroute initially, but were shortly thereafter turned around, as enough help was present already.

[Guest]

Thursday, July 13, 2006

"Tornado" Trooper Speaks

There's a 2 p.m. press conference today starring State Trooper Ira Promisel, who survived the terrifying experience of being caught in yesterday's tornado that ripped through the Saw Mill River Valley.

I got in touch with Promisel, 38, earlier today. He said the tornado lifted his 5,000-pound patrol car into the air twice before it landed about 10 feet away.

""it was wild, definitely wild," Promisel told me.

He said he had just finished a meal at a Wendy's restaurant around 3:50 p.m. when the weather started to turn for the bad. "It stated getting very dark, very quickly and I started seeing debris fyling around me," he said. "I acutaly never saw the funnel cloud from the outside."

Suddenly, he said, "the car lifted up, turned upside down and the car then crashed onto the curb with the passenger's side being crushed.and it was turned a little bit while it was on the ground and it picked up again and landed on all four tires with the front end perpendicular to where it originally was."

Promisel said that the pressure of the tornado made him feel as if he were under water. He said if he hadn't been wearing his seat belt he would've died.

The whole event took about 10 seconds but seemed like a lifetime, he said. Some alert bystanders, inlcuding some Con Edison crewman pulled him out of the wreck. The patrol was totaled. Promisel suffered minor scrapes and bruises.

He's taking today off from work.

posted by Phil Reisman @ 10:33 AM

source: Journal News blogs

[FirNaTine 370]

Don't forget White Plains Fire Rescue #88 same capabilities as the other cities.

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Is Rescue #88 always in service or is it only put in service when needed by taking another piece of apparatus out of service? If so, how many men staff it?

[ex-commish 490]

Andy –

When you have a moment, maybe you could share with everyone some of the experiences that you and your men had during this incident.  Lessons learned based on not only the destruction and danger, but responding, utilizing the teams from your standard mutual aid departments, but also Yonkers, New Rochelle, Fairview, Greenville, and Greenburgh in addition to any other areas that in your mind stand out as items that should be shared with others.

If this incident happened again, is there anything in your mind that you would do differently, the same, build upon, etc.

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First let me say my asst chief deserves all the credit for running this incident. His first priority was accountability both of civilains and personell. Next let me say all the mutual aid agencies were a big help. My fellow chiefs and departments from Mt. Pleasant were there for us as always and DES and OEM were a great resource. There were several other buildings damaged as well and had to be closed due to structural damage. Teams were sent to inpsect all buildings. You have to assume the worst with building damage untill proven otherwise. This was truly a unified command incident with reps from fd, ems, des, oem, police, con-ed, ( did I miss any?).

The interaction between all agencies involved in this incident should set the standard for future incidents. Sure there were mistakes as I am finding out as I talk one on one with my people and I plan on holding a critique in the near future with all agencies involved to see what can be done better. What is important is we learn and go on. I thank God no one was killed or seriously injured during this incident.

On another note, for some of you monday morning quarterbacks who are allready throwning negative comments, if you truly have an issue with how things were done please feel free to contact me. I will gladly meet with you and answer any questions you may have. Lunch is on me..

Again,to all those who responded I want to say thank you !!!!!

[vfd2482 0]

Lunch is on me..

did someone say lunch!! just kidding

Andy,

Joe and you both did a great job. The decision to call for the 3 squads was a great call. They are a invaluable resource.

Maybe someone can start a thread detailing the specialized equipment and capabilities the squads have, so all up and coming line officers will know more about them, and not hesitate to call them.

[Medibart 55]

One of our crews was in the area when the tornado came through and the bus was just missed by flying debris including a toilet which fell out of the sky!! Imagine being the person driving and being killed by a toilet falling on your car. They drove around looking for injured people and ended up at California Closets. Just amazing that there were so few injuries and none of them were serious.

We had two buses there, who else responded EMSwise?

Scott T. Glaessgen

Westchester EMS

[Lieut2 0]

White Plains Fire Rescue #88 is staffed 24/7 with a Officer and two or three fire fighters, depending on the day's staffing. They are all trained and equippped in the following technical rescue fields: Trench Rescue, Confined Space, Building Collapse, High Angle, Extrication, and Water/Ice Rescue. They are also CFRD trained and equipped. The Company's second piece, Utility #1 collapse truck (converted engine) should be in service shortly. The equipment is in and they are just doing some final service and alterations on the vehichle. Rescue #88 went into service July 1, 2004 with a Pierce Dash Heavy Rescue Truck

[YFD216 2]

Yonkers was there with Squad 11, the Collapse Rig,Rescue 1 and Ladder 75 Car 4and a Battalion Chief and I believe so was NRFD"s Rescue. Sorry some screennames are being misused but guys love to throw around the wrong info in here trying to give some departments a bad name. From what I heard from some of my friends who were there EVERYONE did a great job

[RocklandFires 44]

Yesterday, the Journal News found the videos I uploaded on my YouTube account and left me a message to call them. Didn't realize they were doing a story on it.

 

   

Local volunteer firefighter posts videos of tornado's aftermath

By JULIE MORAN ALTERIO

jalterio@lohud.com

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: July 13, 2006)

"Twister" it's not. The tornado itself was long gone by the time volunteer firefighter Brian Duddy came on the scene with his video camera, but the footage he captured yesterday in Hawthorne displays the devastation wrought by the storm's passage.

Duddy posted a series of videos of the aftermath of the tornado on YouTube, a Web site where people can upload movies.

The videos show downed trees and merchandise spilling out of a California Closets' building. One of the videos pans across a wide swath of trees with their tops sheared off by the tornado.

Duddy, a resident of Central Nyack, went straight to the scene after work.

"I'm a weather buff, and you know how rare it is for a tornado to touch down in this area," he said. "It was unbelievable, words almost can't describe what you saw over there."

Check out Duddy's videos on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Photofires).

(Reach Julie Moran Alterio at jalterio@lohud.com or 914-694-5228.)

[tunaFish 0]

Just wanted to say a BIG thank you to EVERYONE who helped out during the tornado.

Being a Mt. Pleasant resident ( while I wasn't affected physically) it was overwhelming to hear about the quick response from all departments.

It made me proud to see all of you who took part in the terrible happenings that we experienced. Sirens were heard hear throughout the night in Valhalla.

The posts on here and the pictures were faster than any news agency. Within a half hour to an hour, I was able to learn what had happened, thanks to EMTBRAVO.

You are ALL greatly appreciated for all of your hard work not just a few days ago, but each and everyday.

We are thankful that injuries were minor. Thanks again for all you do!!!

TunaFish

Edited July 15, 2006 by tunaFish