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Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
16 rAeAZfapiPfff jgflft^ifoe^ r . o? «Mii£ Qtli^riiiiPilii^ By Melissa Hale-Spencer\ GUILDERLAND — Power and calm have been restored to the Willow Street neighborhood where over 200 homes lost elec- tricity. Residents now are working with their home-insurance com- panies to get reimbursed for damage caused after a, car on Aug. 3 struck a support wire for a utility pole at the corner of Siver Road and Willow Street, causing a power surge. Calls came in from both the upper end of Willow Street, in the development \accessible through Pine View Drive, and from the middle part of Willow Street, on roads like Bonny and Tower, said Cox. . Cox called for mutual aid from the fire departments in Fort Hunter, Guilderland Center, and Westmere, he said. McKownville and Carman stood by in the Guilderland and Fort Hunter firehouses. 'Every single fire department we called was there with the manpower — no questions, no doubts, no grousing.' Residents are also full of praise for the volunteer firefighters who worked over a period of 48 hours to check homes where appliances were smoking and electrical circuits were arcing. \The firemen deserve credit; they did a great job,\ said Alice Dockal, whose late husband was a firefighter. \I believe all those involved — firemen, police, EMTs, National Grid — should be commended,\ said Doris Selig, who lives on Willow Street. \They did an out- standing job. That includes dis- patchers, who must have been flooded with calls.\ \I can't think of another time so many firefighters were in- volved in a single incident,\ said Richard Leininger, who was an active Guilderland firefighter himself for 25 years before vision problems sidelined him. 'It was a doozy.\ One of the volunteers was Donald Gaitor, assistant chief of the Guilderland Fire Depart ment, who lives on Siver Road. He was already at the scene of the accident when his wife called to tell him their home was filling with smoke and their burglar alarm wouldn't stop sounding. \I responded in my official ca- pacity, as assistant chief, and took a couple of trucks with me,\ said Gaitor. \The good news is my wife is smart enough to wait outside until the fire department arrives.\ The damage in Gaitor's house was typical — five TVs, an alarm, two game consoles, DVD players, and VCRs were all de- stroyed. His homeowners' insurance company sent an adjuster, said Gaitor, but there are still several steps to go through. \We're still not sure of every- thing we have to fix,\ he said. \Some equipment was damaged but still functioned.\ The ceiling fan in his living room, or exam- ple, had worked for a few days after the power surge but has now stopped. A lot of residents' lost micro- waves, refrigerators, and freez- exs, too, he said. Long haul The department responded to 41 calls on Aug. 3 that were simi- lar to the one at Gaitor's house, he said. Curtis Cox, Guilderland's fire chief, said his department was dispatched to respond to the ac- cident. Cox works for the Guild- erland Police but made clear he was talking solely as the fire chief as he described unfolding events on Aug. 3. Soon after firefighters arrived on the scene, a call came in from Leda Lane, he said, about a smoking television. \People were coming out of their,houses to tell us their computers were smok- ing or their outlets were arcing. That was very concerning,\ said Cox. Firefighters went inside homes to unplug smoking appliances and searched \to make sure noth- ing else was burning,\ said Cox. They also tripped main breakers, preventing further damage or fire as National Grid worked on the power lines. The searches started at about 6 p.m., just after the accident oc- curred, and lasted until about 10 p.m., said Cox. \As that slowed down, Na- tional Grid indicated they had to go door-to-door to inspect meters before the power could be turned back on,\ he said.,,\My fire de- partment wanted to be available when they re-energized every- one.\ Members of the police de- partment, code-enforcement officers, and National Grid rep- resentatives went door-to-door through the night to over 200 houses, Cox said. National Grid had to replace 79 damaged meter boxes. Elec- tricians and underwriters had to come to those homes before power could be restored. Firefighters spent the night on standby in the Guilderland fire- house, said Cox, \in case anyone had further problems or if Na- tional Grid started energizing.\ Throughout the ordeal, Cox said, the firefighters were sup- ported by the department's la- dies' auxiliary. \They supported the firemen as they always have with re- freshments and food,\ he said. At 3 p.m. the following day, said Cox, \We left the scene. Eve- rybody went back to normal.\ The last time Cox could recall such a massive town-wide vol- unteer effort was in the late 1960's when volunteers fought a Pine Bush fire for \days and days.\ \Community at its best\ Phone calls with recorded messages, two of them, were made through an Albany County system to all the affected homes, said Cox. \As a guy who works with computers, I was impressed,\ said Gaitor. He runs the cus- tomer contact system for the Division of Criminal Justice Services. The Guilderland Police De- partment and Guilderland Town Hall used what he called the \re- verse 911 system\ to inform residents.. \No system is infallible,\ Gai- tor said, \but what Guilderland did was excellent.\ Looking back on the 48 hours, he said, \A lot of folks were pretty perturbed they didn't have power. Our role, first and fore- most, was to be concerned with life and safety.\ He and his 21-year-old daugh- ter, firefighter Maureen Gaitor, were both on the job. \You're always hearing how difficult it is to get volunteers,\ he said. \Every shjg|^e fire • depart- ment vwe; '':ca1}ed^•%aj$-' ijhep; with the kn^ipowefc *—»np ..qtiieslions, no doubts; hocusing.* . Gaitor described the reaction as \community atite best.\ He went on* \The ladies auxil- iary, cooked:hpt Slogs,'land ham> burgers and pizza. It was -good to have all the departments to- gether as one.\ He cited one firefighter, whose own home was damaged, as emblematic of the effort. \fin. -proud of „ ^ofiy Kaffka wlio was working alongside us with the same difficulties at her own house.;.We'ye become a me society... These folks think enough of their community that their altruism comes through.'' The Enterprise — Forest Byrd Windmill blades awuit the final leg of their journey from the Port of Albany. \For now, bigger is better,\ said Harvey Wasserman; one of the major restrictions on windmill size is how big the roads are. \Sooner or later, windmills will be installed with blimps, \ he quipped. ... Hilltowns ponder wind energy (Continued from Page 1) In Juhl's case, his backers owned 90 percent of the wind farm for 10 years, said Wasser- man, so Juhl was making $10,000 to $20,000 per machine per year. When the ownership flips, he'll be making $100,000 per machine per year, said Was- serman. Comparable amounts are possible here, he .said. \The landowner doesn't put up anything,\ said Weiss. \He's making a fortune for the first 10 years, then he owns it.\ Companies are interested in financing projects like this be- cause they can use the Produc- tion Tax Credits that come with the project. PTCs are a federal incentive for corporations that build green power facilities, like wind farms. Weiss said that companies are lining up to in- vest. They want the tax credits, and businesses like John Deere benefit twofold. \It's a win-win for them if they can keep farm- ers in business,\ said Weiss. Maintaining the rural land- scape is one of the benefits of wind farms in the Hilltowns, said Weiss. \Farming is no longer profitable,\ he said. \All these farms will be subdivided.\ If a farmer can make money on the windmills, then the land can remain agricultural instead of being sold off into residential parcels, said Weiss. Windmills have a very small footprint; a farmer can plant right up to the base of the tower. When talking about farmers who have windmills on their property, Wasserman said, \These guys in the Midwest are making more money on the wind than on corn and soybeans.\ In the Northeast, it would be a little different because the size of farms is much smaller. On av- erage, each turbine needs 15 acres, said Weiss. Farmers would likely need to form a col- lective before making plans for the wind farm. Citing the Tech Valley initia- tive, Weiss said that wind farms would help relieve some of the development pressure on the Hilltowns, preserving farmland and open spaces. He said, \The number-one thing has to be con- servation.\ Detractors, though, say that windmills clutter the landscape. This is one of the main concerns being discussed by towns that are coming up with regulations for windmills, like Rensse- laerville and Knox. Rensse- 'laerville's supervisor, Jost Nich- olsberg, who is strongly opposed to windmills, suggested that people look into other forms of alternative energy, like fuel cells. He told The Enterprise, \Windmills are as toxic to the spirit and the soul as spent nu- clear fuel rods.\ \I consider them sort of Dan- ish modern sculpture,\ said Wasserman, representing the other side of the debate. 'Sort of Danish modern sculpture.' Helderberg Wind Forum The Knox Town Board last week heard a presentation on a research project for a commu- nity-owned wind farm in the Hilltowns. The project, funded largely by a grant from the New York State Energy and Research Develop- ment Authority, will ultimately produce a business plan for a community-owned wind farm and accurate wind data for the area. Although Knox recently en- acted a moratorium on windmills and meteorological towers, Sus- tainable Energy Developments (SED) was granted a variance last night to put up the tower at 588 Middle Road in Knox. The tower will collect data for a year. Project manager Loren Prusk- owski, of SED, hopes to get the tower up by September so that it will be able to collect information during the windy season, which starts in the fall. The tower will collect informa- tion on wind turbulance, speed, and temperature at different heights. The environmental as- sessment will include informa- tion on noise, visual impact, and effects on bird and bat popula- tions. • Of the eight species of bats that live in the area, two are protected. The Indiana bat is an endangered species and the small-footed bat is a species of special concern in New York, ac- cording to the Helderberg Es- carpment Planning Guide. Daniel Driscoll, who is concerned about the bat population, said that proper placement of wind- mills would most likely avoid harming bats. Driscoll is a long- time member of the Knox Plan- ning Board and a co-editor of the guide. Wasserman addressed the bird and bat issue in his lecture, saying that the problem with birds was a peculiar circum- stance in Altamont Pass, Calif, which has a large wind farm. There is a large raptor popula- tion in that area, he said, and wind turbines were put on lat- tice work towers, which give the birds a place to perch;' tubular towers are used now. * \You won't have nearly as many kills as the cats in the community,\ Wasserman said. \ HILLTOWN MARKET SATURDAYS, 9 am. ~ 1 p.m. Announcing a Special Presentation _,tiergy in the :owns August 19 * 11 a.m. Downstairs in the Octagon Barn 588 Middle Road (CR 262), Knox intersection of Beebe' Road (CR 259) Come to Knox and . follow the yellow signs / For information, call 872-9131 or r 872*9698 JV
