GUILDERLAND — Power and calm have been restored to the Willow Street neighborhood where over 200 homes lost electricity.

Residents now are working with their home-insurance companies 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.

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 outstanding job. That includes dispatchers, who must have been flooded with calls."
"I can’t think of another time so many firefighters were involved 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 Department, 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 capacity, 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 destroyed.

His homeowners’ insurance company sent an adjuster, said Gaitor, but there are still several steps to go through.
"We’re still not sure of everything we have to fix," he said. "Some equipment was damaged but still functioned." The ceiling fan in his living room, or example, had worked for a few days after the power surge but has now stopped.

A lot of residents lost microwaves, refrigerators, and freezers, too, he said.

Long haul

The department responded to 41 calls on Aug. 3 that were similar to the one at Gaitor’s house, he said.

Curtis Cox, Guilderland’s fire chief, said his department was dispatched to respond to the accident. Cox works for the Guilderland 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 smoking or their outlets were arcing. That was very concerning," said Cox.

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.
Firefighters went inside homes to unplug smoking appliances and searched "to make sure nothing 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 occurred, and lasted until about 10 p.m., said Cox.
"As that slowed down, National Grid indicated they had to go door-to-door to inspect meters before the power could be turned back on," he said. "My fire department wanted to be available when they re-energized everyone."

Members of the police department, code-enforcement officers, and National Grid representatives went door-to-door through the night to over 200 houses, Cox said.

National Grid had to replace 79 damaged meter boxes. Electricians and underwriters had to come to those homes before power could be restored.
Firefighters spent the night on standby in the Guilderland firehouse, said Cox, "in case anyone had further problems or if National Grid started energizing."

Throughout the ordeal, Cox said, the firefighters were supported by the department’s ladies’ auxiliary.
"They supported the firemen as they always have with refreshments and food," he said.
At 3 p.m. the following day, said Cox, "We left the scene. Everybody went back to normal."
The last time Cox could recall such a massive town-wide volunteer 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 customer contact system for the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
The Guilderland Police Department and Guilderland Town Hall used what he called the "reverse 911 system" to inform residents.
"No system is infallible," Gaitor 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 foremost, was to be concerned with life and safety."

He and his 21-year-old daughter, firefighter Maureen Gaitor, were both on the job.
"You’re always hearing how difficult it is to get volunteers," he said. "Every single fire department we called was there with the manpower — no questions, no doubts, no grousing."
Gaitor described the reaction as "community at its best."
He went on, "The ladies auxiliary cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and pizza. It was good to have all the departments together as one."

He cited one firefighter, whose own home was damaged, as emblematic of the effort.
"I’m proud of Molly Kaffka who was working alongside us with the same difficulties at her own house...We’ve become a me society... These folks think enough of their community that their altruism comes through."