Angela Reyes Haczek
(CNN) It was just days before Christmas when a blizzard hit Buffalo, New York, bringing the fierce winds, heavy snow, and dangerous cold that had already gripped much of the United States.
Then the power went out in nearby Williamsville, leaving Demetrice and Danielle and their four children — Aayden, 8, Aubree, 4, Jordynn, 2, and Judah, 9 months — in the freezing cold.
The temperature dropped by 1 to 1.5 degrees Celsius every 10 minutes or so, Danielle later recalled.
“Conditions were deteriorating very rapidly,” he said, and since they only had electrical appliances, they couldn’t even turn on the stove for heat.
If they were just adults, they would have curled up that Friday, Danielle told “CNN This Morning.” But of course, there weren’t only adults in this family.
So Demetrice and Danielle packed the essentials and got into the car.
And they started along the way.
Soon, however, the Arctic gust that had already claimed lives as it crossed the country made driving impossible.
Cars driving Friday in Orchard Park, New York, south of Buffalo. (Credit: Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News/AP)
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Danielle said on Monday. “It was like looking at a white card (…). Even the cars, with the lights on, you couldn’t see anything.”
There were no yellow road signs.
No orange traffic cones.
Not a single traffic light.
“You had to go through the crossroads praying,” the mother explained.
A family walks down Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, New York on Friday. (Credit: Derek Gee/The Buffalo News/AP)
“A crisis of epic proportions”
The power of this storm, as Danielle was learning, was different from what Buffalo was used to, tempered for generations by Lake Erie’s “snow machine.”
Soon, power substations would freeze and people here would die, according to Erie County officials. 110 cm of snow would fall. Governor Kathy Hochul, a native of this region, would call it “a crisis of epic proportions” and the “most devastating storm in Buffalo’s long history.”
But first and foremost, it was the roads that quickly transitioned from escape routes to icy traps. And in one of them, near a tunnel under the airport runway, were Aayden, Aubree, Jordynn, and little Judah, along with their parents, trying to find somewhere warm to stay.
Danielle and Demetrice “tried to stay calm as long as possible” because they didn’t want to “scare the kids,” the mother said.
But the alarms were sounding.
Someone else trying to escape the blizzard heard it too.
A report of a motorist having a panic attack in a tunnel under the airfield has reached the Buffalo Airport Fire Department, Buffalo Airport Deputy Fire Chief Joel Eberth told “CNN This Morning”.
Safe in their warm firehouse, firefighters Mike Carrubba and Mark Wolhfiel, along with Eberth, geared up, according to the latter’s account and a statement from the Niagara Border Transportation Authority.
Then they did what heroes do: they ran out into the deadly storm.
“I Promise We Won’t Let You”
Demetrice and Danielle got stuck at a roundabout near the airport tunnel. In all, there were also more than three dozen commuters — most likely invisible to each other — a handful of the nearly 500 motorists who were stranded Friday night through Saturday on Erie County roads.
“It took a long time to get out,” Eberth said, referring to the airport tunnel site.
That of Danielle and Demetrice’s family was one of the first vehicles rescuers arrived at.
As Carrubba approached her window, Demetrice flung it open.
“Please don’t leave us,” the father pleaded.
“Don’t worry, buddy,” the firefighter replied, recalling the exchange. “I promise you we won’t leave them.”
But help could not leave immediately.
Carrubba headed into the tunnel, where up to 30 motorists were trapped at the other end.
They all needed to get out.
It had to be planned.
In the shelter of the tunnel, the rescuers formed a convoy: trucks in front, SUVs behind, Carrubba in the rear – not far from Demetrice, Danielle and their children – on foot to lead the way and make sure no one is left behind, they said, he explained on CNN on Monday.
Finally the slow movement to safety began.
Those who were in the lead approached the fire station.
But about 12 meters into the storm, the back half had to stop.
They just didn’t get it.
A resident of Buffalo, New York, cleared snow from her car on Saturday. (Credit: Jalen Wright/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
‘I will never leave them’
Visibility was zero, Carrubba said, and the snow was 5 feet deep.
Demetrice begged the fireman again, “Please don’t leave us.”
“I’ll never leave them,” he remembers promising her in return.
As the father fretted, Carrubba changed his contingency plan.
“The moment of alarm had arrived,” he said.
He called another agency and told them they needed an SUV.
“We’ll go as soon as possible,” they said, Carrubba recalled.
Another 45 minutes went by.
Finally, with the relief truck already in place, the convoy resumed its journey back to the firehouse, a beacon that remained safe amid the storm.
A second critical mission: magic
Aayden, Aubree, Jordynn and Judah, along with their parents and 36 other people, were taken to safety that day, the transport authority said.
As the only small children rescued, his family was able to spend Christmas Eve at the fire station.
There, the eldest of the brothers, who never hesitated to believe in the magic of these dates, inadvertently sent the firefighters on a second mission, perhaps more important than the rescue that saved him and his family from the epic storm.
Danielle and Demetrice’s family spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with the firefighters. (Credit: Buffalo Airport/Twitter)
Firefighters hunted around the station and accepted deliveries from other people working nearby at parties to collect enough goodies to “make sure Santa paid a visit.”
Sure enough, when the family woke up in the firehouse on Christmas morning, it was just as Aayden predicted:
“Santa’s here,” Demetric said.
During his stay, Aayden also asked if he could wear a real firefighter’s uniform and was even given a department uniform and T-shirt, according to the Transportation Authority. And he learned how first responders help people in need.
Rescued family poses with firefighters. (Credit: Buffalo Airport/Twitter)
But they might be the adults for whom this holiday’s gifts and lessons last long past this storm.
“It’s been an incredible experience for our firefighters,” Eberth said, “and it’s definitely made us better people.”
Demetrice added, “Those guys were great at the firehouse. They treated us with nothing but love.
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