east pembroke

A motor-vehicle accident with injuries is reported at Alleghany and Indian Falls roads. Mercy Flight is called but unavailable. Alleghany Road (Route 77) is blocked north and south. Traffic is also to be shut down at Little Falls, Gabbey Road and the Thruway exit.

Responders include Pembroke, East Pembroke, Indian Falls and Oakfield fire departments and Mercy EMS.

UPDATE 11:55 a.m.: so far, on victim has been transported to UMMC and another to ECMC.

UPDATE 12:01 p.m. (by Howard):  Roads back open, fire departments back in service.

A two-car head-on collision is reported at Route 63 just south of Boyd Road. Three minor injuries are reported.

Fire units from the Town of Pavilion are responding along with Mercy EMS.

Traffic police are requested at the intersection and at Route 246.

The site is located in Covington but is in Pavilion's fire district.

UPDATE: There's possible entrapment in one of the vehicles. Fire chief on scene says there are two minor injuries.

UPDATE 5:50 p.m.: Road is reopened.

An unknown type fire has been reported in the woods off Wilkinson Road near Route 33, Batavia.

A first responder reports that "it's a pretty good size fire."

East Pembroke Fire is responding.

A car has slammed into a pole at 2023 Route 5. The elderly male driver is injured and reportedly incoherant. The caller stated the car was being driven erratically before leaving the roadway and hitting the tree. So this accident may be due to medical reasons.

The location is between Cleveland and Indian Falls roads. The pole is said to be sheared at the base but it remains upright and nothing is blocking the roadway.

East Pembroke Fire Department and Mercy EMS are responding.

Ashley Bedard is a graduate of Pembroke Central School and she is battling leukemia. To help Ashley, and her mother, JoAnne McInerney, while Ashley undergoes treatment for the disease, there's going to be a fundraiser this Saturday.

"Bash for Ash" will offer a steak dinner, Chinese auction and music, all for $10 per person. It will be held at Holy Name of Mary Church Hall on West Avenue in East Pembroke from 4 to 11 p.m., with dinner served from 5 to 7 p.m.

Donation for the event can be sent or dropped off to Sue Winkelman or Hope Wood at Tompkins Insurance Agencies, 90 Main St., in Downtown Batavia.

Monetary donations can be made payable to: "In Trust for Ashley Bedard"and mailed to: Bank of Castile; Attn -- Sue Winkelman, 90 Main St., Batavia.

For more information call Sue or Hope at 585-344-0833 or email:
<swinkelman@tompkinsins.com> or <hwood@tompkinsins.com>

(Portrait photo by Carlson's Studio)

A two-car accident is reported at Route 33 and Wortendyke Road. It is blocking the roadway. There are minor injuries and there was airbag deployment.

East Pembroke and Mercy EMS are responding.

A two-car accident unknown injuries is reported at Route 5 and West Avenue in East Pembroke. One car is blocking the roadway.

East Pembroke Fire Department is responding and medics from Oakfield are en route in non-emergency mode. There are reportedly two minor injuries.

A vehicle with two occupants went off the roadway in the westbound lane at mile marker 394 on the Thruway. Injuries are unknown.

East Pembroke Fire Department and Mercy EMS are responding.

UPDATE (2:27 p.m.): Responders could not locate the vehicle. Units are put back in service.

East Pembroke Fire and Mercy EMS are responding to a motor-vehicle accident with injuries at West Main Street and Kelsey Road. A victim is, or was, in the roadway. 

Mercy Flight is on ground standby, with a 50/50 chance of being able to go to the scene, if called, due to weather conditions.

UPDATE (3:18 p.m.): Emergency responders report the injuries are not life threatening.

UPDATE (3:26 p.m.): Six people and two vehicles were involved. Four people were taken to hospital(s) via ambulance and two others were evaluated/treated at the scene.

A person in East Pembroke suffered a severe arm injury at a garage at 2452 Main Road. The victim is reported to be in and out of consciousness and bleeding severely.

Mercy Flight is responding and a landing zone is set up at the back of a nearby elementary school. East Pembroke and Indian Falls fire departments and Mercy EMS are also responding. Town of Batavia is called to help with traffic control.

A chain reportedly broke, creating a "mechanical malfunction," resulting in the injury.

UPDATE (12:50 p.m.): Mercy flight has landed. Medics will have the patient there in a minute or so. The patient is now alert and oriented, with a severely injured, possibly fractured, arm.

UPDATE (1:05 p.m.): Mercy Flight is airborne, heading to Erie County Medical Center. All emergency responders are back in service.

A pile-up of seven vehicles is reported on the Thruway at mile marker 397.7 in the westbound lanes.

East Pembroke is responding along with Mercy EMS. Pembroke and Indian Falls and Darien are standing by in quarters.

Traffic is badly snarled and backed up. Cars are in the meridian and on the sides of the roadway. Multiple 9-1-1 calls have been received.

At least two injuries are reported so far and one person is trapped in a vehicle.

UPDATE (4:39 p.m.): East Pembroke units are back in service.

UPDATE (4:44 p.m.): Thruway traffic is moving again.

UPDATE (by Howard) 5:48 p.m.: Photos. Top photo, from Indian Falls Road. Bottom photo take at least five minutes after accident scene cleared, showing traffic still at a standstill past the Oak Street bridge (shown in the distance).

CORRECTION: This post originally contained information about Mercy Flight. Mercy Flight was never part of this incident. Mercy Flight was dispatched to the Stafford accident.

A motorcycle accident is reported between Pratt and Killian roads in East Pembroke.

A hand hip laceration is reported. Mercy EMS and East Pembroke fire are responding.

UPDATE (3:58 p.m.): Mercy Flight is requested. More manpower is requested to set up a landing zone in a hayfield located west of Killian and south of Slusher roads.

UPDATE (4:23 p.m.): Due to weather conditions, Mercy Flight is taking the patient to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

It was a house that was going to be burned to the ground at some point anyway, but East Pembroke Fire Chief Bob Yungsleisch didn't want to see it go like this -- in an unplanned bonfire.

For more than a year, area firefighters -- and even Batavia's SWAT team -- have been using a vacant house at 2881 Pratt Road as a training structure (here's a video we did last year of a training exercise at the house, which was donated by the previous owner specifically for training purposes).

On Monday, members of the East Pembroke Fire Department went to the structure to try a new helmet they've acquired. In order to create the right smoky environment, they put some straw in a burn barrel (a barrel intended to contain flames, but allow smoke to fill a training room), and lit it  up.

After the helmet tests were completed, Yungsleisch said the fire in the burn barrel was doused with water and everybody left.

About 45 minutes later, Yungsleisch said a call came in -- probably about 9 p.m. -- that there were flames inside the house.  

When he arrived, he found the flames contained to the burn barrel, and he extinguished the fire himself and notified dispatch that, "it's just the burn barrel."

As he and another person stood outside the house the other person wondered why there was so much smoke coming out of a second-floor window.

When Yungsleisch investigated, he found some papers on the second floor had ignited.  He figures an ember had floated up there.

At that point, tankers from Oakfield, Pembroke, Batavia and Corfu were requested to the scene.

But Yungsleisch figured there was only one thing to do at this point -- let it burn. The firefighters called to the scene were there merely in defensive roles, to protect one nearby structure and the trees near the house.

It wasn't worth risking any firefighters to try and actually put out the fire, which burned for about two hours.

“It was a great house," Yungsleisch said. "I would have loved to have kept it another month or two, but I wasn’t about it send anybody inside.”

Photos by Destin Danser.

A possible electrical fire in a home's basement has been reported at 8094 North Pembroke Road. Fire crews from East Pembroke and Alabama are responding.

UPDATE: Reader submitted photo.

A possible structure fire at 3611 W. Main Street Road has been reported.

The caller reports seeing a red glow from the roof of a barn.

East Pembroke Fire and Town of Batavia Fire have been dispatched.

UPDATE 10:29 a.m.: Batavia Engine 24 canceled. Ladder 25 called to the scene. Asst. chief says it does't appear to be a structure fire, but wants the ladder truck there to investigate.

UPDATE: Apparently, some moulding or caulking had become worn and a light was shining through, causing an ember-like glow. No heat. No fire. A reader submitted the photo above.

View Larger Map

Emergency crews are responding to a number of weather-related incidents.

Electrical wires are reported to be fallen, on fire and arcing in the trees at 8971 Wilkinson Road in East Pembroke. National Grid has been advised.

Also, wires are reported to be dangling from a pole at Broadway and County Line Road in Darien. It is believed they are phone wires, not electrical power lines.

A tree is reported to have fallen on the shoulder of the roadway, partially blocking it, at 1445 Route 20, east of Route 77, in Darien.

This is the second in our occasional series on Fire Training Mondays. On Mondays, local fire departments meet and train. It's our goal over the next few months to visit each fire department and show a bit of their training and maybe learn a little more about the department.

This Monday, I was able to make it out to East Pembroke, where I saw the volunteers do an equipment check, learned about their original fire truck, and observed their ladder training on an acquired house.

Previously: Fire Training Mondays: Elba Volunteer Fire Department trains on car fires

Rigs lined up over a dozen deep stretched along the side of East Main Street in Corfu this morning. Its riders, along with many more, crowded inside the Pembroke Community Center to pay their last respects to Norm Koch, former chief at the Corfu Fire Department and longtime firefighter who died in the line of duty assisting at the scene of a car accident in East Pembroke Tuesday. Koch served as commissioner and captain of the fire police in East Pembroke. He was 79.

Shortly before noon this morning, county dispatchers sounded the final alarm in honor of Captain Koch. This was that message:

This is the Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center going on the air with a last alarm assignment for East Pembroke Fire Police Captain Norm Koch.

Captain Koch answered his last alarm December 30th at 12:34 hours at the age of 79. He served the East Pembroke Fire Department for 21 years.

The Alexander, Corfu and East Pembroke Fire Departments are thankful for the 58 years of service Past Chief, Commissioner and Fire Police Capt. Norm Koch has provided to the communities they serve.

His task completed, his duties well done. To our Comrade, his last alarm, he's going home.

Meanwhile, outside the Corfu Fire Department, the buckets from the Batavia and Le Roy ladder trucks joined some thirty feet from the ground to fly the flag in salute.