BEACON (18 April 2007) - The rain started during the day of Sunday, April 15th, but by the evening the onslaught of alarms had begun from the storm dubbed the name of "Northeaster 2007". At around 8p, the city started getting alarms for flooding related incidents and from that time on the call volume continued to increase until its peak of about 10-20 calls a hour the next day. A majority of the calls were flooding conditions in basements, very common in Beacon during major storms since a majority of the city's buildings were constructed between the mid 1800s and the mid 1900s. The storm produced nearly 6 inches of rain in just two days and created a water table so high that creeks in the area were measured the third highest in recorded history.
The city usually averages around 100 calls a month, and with the storm it took in about 120 runs in just 3 days! The city took in 96 flooded basement calls, 55 of which companies pumped out the basements with either electric powered sump pumps or larger gas powered pumps in cases were there was more than a foot of water. In addition the city took in about 7 alarms with problems with electrical equipment or smoke in the basement from water getting into utilities, about 10 good intent runs, as well as one minor partial building collapse from a water leak. Due to the overwhelming number of alarms, Engine 33-13 was placed in service with off-duty personal to assist with the call load.
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