Storm Results in Busy Night for KFD
 
By Ex Chief Dean W. Pappas
November 16, 2020
 

Katonah Fire Department members became busy really quickly as Sunday evening's storm, with heavy rain and high winds, roared through the area. From about 7:30 PM to midnight, Katonah apparatus and personnel responded to close to a dozen incidents, ranging from downed wires, reported house fires, to trees falling on homes, to live power lines falling onto a Town of Bedford DPW truck. Fortunately, none of the incidents resulted in injuries. Firefighters were hampered, however, by trees falling across roadways, forcing them to take roundabout routes to get to some calls. At one point, Route 35 was blocked by trees between Mount Holly Road and the South Salem Fire District line. One incident--a downed power line on North Salem Road that resulted in a very bright, voltage-fed brush fire, yielded several calls from fire district residents close to a mile away who saw the flames. In some cases, the callers thought that a house was on fire. Fortunately, that turned out not to be the case. Most of the incidents were dealt with and closed out by about 11:30 PM and tired members were able to return home by about midnight after making sure all apparatus was put back in service.