pOn Thursday Hammondsport Firefighers were called to respond to the City of Elmira to assist with damage caused by a tornado. We responded with an Engine and Ladder truck along with 14 firefighters. After arriving at the staging area in the Weis Market parking lot we were soon given an assigment. Our job was to do a street by street assesment of damage done to property or to render assistance to any resident that may need it. Although we were not in the area most impacted by the storm we still saw many trees and downed wires. Many streets were still impassable due to trees and wires. After completeing this task we were given a 30 minute break. After our break we were given the task of evacuating the 10 story St. Joes apartment building. Since the electricity was out all residents would have to be brought down via the stairwell. Some of the residents were able to self evacuate but many were either in wheelchairs or were going to need direct assistance down the stairs. After realizing we were going to need more manpower a call was made to staging to send 2 more units to assist us. While we were on the 6th floor we heard our help coming up the stairs. we were never so happy to see the help was our brothers to the north. It was the Penn Yan fire Dept. With the 2 departments working hand in hand we soon finished our task. At that time we were released with Elmiras heartfelt thanks and returned to Hammondsport at 1245 am.p
