The combination of the recent bitter cold weather along with snow covered roads has made things busy for area emergency services over the past several days.

A mid-afternoon crash on Rt. 219 near Lantz's Corners involving a tractor-trailer and a passenger vehicle caused Rt. 219 to be closed for a period of time. One person was injured in this incident.

Another crash on Friday involved a school bus and a passenger vehicle. That crash occurred on Rt. 144 in Wes Branch Township.

Saturday things really got busy around the area with a number of incidents. Coudersport Dept 48 responded to two separate land rescue calls involving snowmobile crashes. One at the "Snowdeo" being held by the Potter County snow mobile club and another later in the day in the area of the Billy Lewis Rd. on top of Denten Hill.The victim of the Billy Lewis Rd. incident was flown out for treatment of their injuries.

A defective chimney resulted in a structure fire at the Sams residence at 119 Ripple Drive in the Costello Mobile Home Park on Saturday morning and brought a response from Austin Dept 44, Coudersport Dept 48 and Emporium Dept 14. Quick action by firefighters prevented a large scale blaze and extension to neighboring units. The blaze resulted in approximately $18,000 damage to the structure.

Saturday afternoon would also have Emporium responding to a snowmobile accident on Ridge Rd. near the Potter County line.

About the time Saturday afternoon that Coudersport was responding to their second snowmobile land rescue of the day Galeton and Germania were dispatched for a person with a gun shot wound. A landing zone was set up and the victim flown to a trauma facility.

Just after 2300hrs on Saturday Kane area firefighters responded to what would become a two alarm blaze on Rt. 321 North of the borough.

Firefighters battled a blaze early Sunday morning at an East Main Street home in Bradford. A resident attempting to thaw frozen pipes ignited a wall which extended to the second floor. Firefighters from the Derrick City area were on scene for approximately 3 hours.

A structure fire in the Osceola area at approximate 0300 on Monday the 11th destroyed the home of an Osceola firefighter. The structure was heavily involved upon arrival of first in units. Mutual aid was summoned from several area departments including Westfield and Knoxville. A rekindle of that same blaze brought several departments back out on Monday evening. The structure was a total loss. The blaze is believed to have been caused by a defective chimney.

In the Emporium area a one vehicle roll-over crash resulted in the response of the Emporium Fire Dept and Ambulance personnel and injured one person.

And a 3 vehicle crash on Rt. 49 between Colesburg and Gold resulting in the road being closed for nearly 2 hours. Ulysses Dept 47 and Couderport Dept 48 responded to that incident and transported several individuals to Coudersport Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

At approximately 2225 hrs Monday evening Couderport Dept 48 was dispatched for a reported structure fire in a commercial structure on Main St. Dispatch advised responding units that residents inside the building reported heavy smoke coming from the first floor and stated they were unable to exit the building. A second alarm was requested sending units from Austin Dept 44, Roulette Dept 46, Shinglehouse Dept 39, Galeton Dept 10 and Port Allegany Dept 3 (McKean). After arriving on scene and assessing the situation the mutual aid companies response was downgraded to station covers and Dept. 10 and Dept 39 were recalled.

Not long after returning from the Coudersport call Port Allegany responded to a reported structure fire in the Turtlepoint area. Port Allegany FD and Ambulance, with Eldred Borough and Eldred Township FD’s, and Roulette FD were all dispatched to the scene. Smethport Dept 2 (McKean) was requested to transfer an engine and crew to the Port Allegany Station. Coudersport sent an engine to Station 46 Roulette to cover.