BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Members of a local snowmobile club were out around-the-clock during the blizzard, working to rescue people and get essential workers to their jobs. The Northern Erie Sno-Seekers Snowmobile Club has heavy-duty equipment designed to shape trails for snowmobiles. These "groomers" were one of the few things that were able to transport people through the storm.
From Friday evening through Saturday afternoon, members of the club rescued 41 people from Main Street in Clarence, including state troopers, ambulance workers, and a firefighter. They also worked with the Newstead Fire Company, NYS Police and the Newstead and Akron Highway Departments to pick up drivers and get them to plow trucks.
On Sunday, members brought nurses from the Clarence/Amherst area to Buffalo General Hospital, an Emergency Room doctor to Sister's Hospital, and a Buffalo Police Department Officer to his police station.
Club member Rich McNamara was out with his snowmobile trail groomer from Friday night on.
“It can go through anything. It’s just made for it, and I can go through 8, 10-foot drifts and it’s just like cutting butter,” he explained.
On Saturday, he started getting calls from first responders who needed rides, like ICU nurse Shealyn McCoy.
McCoy got up Christmas morning to get to get shift at Buffalo General Hospital, looked out the window, and realized she’d never make it.
“Where I lived it hadn’t stopped snowing,” McCoy said. “So I put out a status on Instagram and said, ‘Is there anybody who can pick up a couple coworkers and I from Transit?”
That’s when Rich came, picked up McCoy and two of her coworkers, and made the two-hour trip on the groomer from Clarence to Buffalo.
McCoy said her coworkers - who had been working 48 hours in the ICU - were beyond relieved to see reinforcements.
“Don’t get me wrong - it’s important to relieve any nurse at any point. But us getting there, we had coworkers that were crying tears of joy when they saw us coming through the doors. It was that level of relief,” she said.
She says what happened just embodies the spirit of Western New York.
“The epitome of the city of good neighbors. He said we can do what we do and that’s it - but we have to find ways to be in service of others, and that really hit home because that’s what these guys are doing, going out and doing whatever they can to save people’s lives,” McCoy said.
“We like to give back. The snowmobile club, we do a lot. And we have an opportunity to do something. We can get around better than anybody else out there,” McNamara said.
Northern Erie Sno Seekers serves Erie, Niagara and Genesee Counties and has 700 members.