West Seneca, New York, 2014

Communities in and around Buffalo New York were inundated by a massive snow storm that dropped more than 2 meters (7') of snow in some areas. This was followed by rapidly warming temperatures which resulted in flooding. On 23 November 2014 GlobalFire deployed an 8 member team to the region's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) with shovels, generators, pumps and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and were assigned to help with snow removal from roofs to avoid structural collapse and flood control measures.

With the amount of snowfall, stress on roof tops was tremendous and there had been dozens of collapses. One square foot of snow accumulation on a roof can weigh as much as 21 pounds per square foot. On a one thousand square foot house, this can be as much as 12 tons of extra weight. More weight affected the rooftops of commercial buildings. 

Rapid melting due to quickly warming temperatures created a flooding potential that would spell disaster for many locals of Buffalo. West Seneca has three major river ways that run through the city. Each were rising rapidly and flowing with deadly swiftness. With flooding being a great concern, the state governor was prepared to issue evacuation orders. To help eliviate the risk, GlobalFire's team assisted in sandbagging, transport and helped to dig trenches to avert flood waters away from homes. The team also provided community members with advice on how to protect properties from flooding.