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Firefighters remain on scene at Niagara Falls blaze

WBFO File Photo

With half of Niagara Falls' firefighters tied up at the Norampac cardboard mill fire, the city reached out to volunteer companies from around the area.

Because major fires can occur across Niagara County, there is a deep relationship and mutual aid plan when help is needed.

"It was a good showing of the Niagara County Mutual Aid plan," said Jonathan Schultz, fire coordinator and director of emergency services.

A lot of that was just bringing water to the Packard Road scene because there were a lot of fire hydrants which didn't work.

It was a hot and sweaty work for the volunteers and the full-time guys because this is what's called a "surround and drown" fire, which basically means just keep putting water on it without directly fighting the fire. That's safer for the firefighters.

Schultz says there's also a lot of need for replacements for those worn down by the heat and the strain and the need to get some food.

"We've got a lot of equipment here, a lot of ladder trucks, engines. We've got tankers from surrounding counties here that are assisting in shuttling around the site."

Schultz says it's great training for volunteers who haven't worked a big fire to see how it's done and work with experienced guys on how to fight fires safely.
 

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.