A deputy from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office handles security in August 2022 for the Wilmington bicentennial parade on state Route 86. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

In less than a month, tens of thousands of people are expected to travel into the North Country to be in one of the prime viewing spots for the April 8 total solar eclipse.

With such a large migration of people into this rural, sparsely populated area, first responders will be on standby, as mass gatherings of people tend to bring emergencies. Their goal is to prevent as many of these emergencies as possible, and to keep the impacts of emergencies minimal as people flock to the Adirondacks for the rare celestial wonder.

MAP: See an interactive solar eclipse map.

The region is no stranger to big events. Lake Placid was the epicenter of two Winter Olympics, after all. But Franklin County Emergency Services Coordinator Rob Demarse said he’s never seen something like this before. The event will be spread out through the entire region and is expected to draw massive crowds.

This eclipse will be the first to directly hit the Tri-Lakes in at least a millennium, maybe more. And emergency service officials aren’t exactly sure what to expect.

State Police are seen on Main Street, Lake Placid, in January 2023, beefing up security for the FISU Winter World University Games. (News photo — Lauren Yates)

“It’s hard to plan for an event where you’re really not sure what’s going to take place,” Demarse said.

Planning for the eclipse began a year ago, but throughout the process he said they’ve learned to expect the unexpected.

“This has been over a year of continually planning and changing and adapting,” he said.

Estimates from the state Homeland Security and Emergency Services Division that Demarse has received put the anticipated number of travelers at 170,000 within the 150-mile stretch between Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain, where the cities of Watertown and Plattsburgh lie.

Tupper Lake, as the home of the Adirondack Sky Center, is set to be the potential epicenter of the eclipse boom. And Tupper Lake Volunteer Fire Department Chief Royce Cole said he’s preparing accordingly. They’ll never be fully ready, he said, but they’ll be as prepared as they can be.

In the past few months he said there have been “countless meetings” behind the scenes with county and other emergency services.

The largest single event in Tupper Lake is anticipated at the Wild Center.

Wild Center Marketing Director Nick Gunn said they are expecting between 5,000 and 7,000 visitors at the nature museum on the day of the eclipse. He said 4,000 people have already made reservations there.

–

Preparations

–

Most emergency planners said traffic is the biggest issue they see coming.

New York State Police spokeswoman Brandi Ashley said they can’t guarantee there will be that much traffic — there have been false-alarm events before. But she suggested motorists prepare for the worst and pack for a traffic jam.

“Make sure your car is full of gas if you do plan on traveling in and out on the day of the eclipse,” Ashley said. “Make sure your cell phone batteries are charged or have a charger with you.”

Roads in the Adirondacks are not as interconnected as most other places. Sometimes a single road connects one place to another. The main thing an influx of people creates is traffic, Demarse said.

Demarse’s department is putting tow companies on standby and mapping out all roads with the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for cell coverage, existing and alternate fuel stations and electric vehicle chargers.

He said to prepare for “time management” — a 10 minute trip might take 30 with countless extra vehicles on the road.

Communication is another potential trouble.

“Cell coverage is scarce as it is,” Demarse said.

For example, during the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, placing calls in the heart of town becomes very difficult because of the crowds of people — nearly every one with a phone in their pocket — are all connected to the system. And getting cell signal boosters wouldn’t fix the problem.

“If you overwhelm the main tower then you’d lose everything anyway,” Demarse said.

The county is recruiting amateur ham radio operators to run their equipment at communications trailers in Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake, as well as their main operations hub at dispatch in Malone in case cell phone service goes down because of the high load on the towers, he said.

“It’s sort of a backup to the backup,” Demarse said.

If cell phones and traditional radio systems get overwhelmed, people can report incidents via ham radio at these stations.

Demarse said the North Country isn’t getting additional state resources like other regions of New York are. It’s just a lot of local volunteers.

He’s been spending time telling people to stock up before the event, too. Individuals and businesses need to be prepared to provide for and deal with all of the people coming here. With thousands of people on the way, every one of them will need food, water, fuel, bathrooms, electricity and countless other resources.

This will put a strain on stores, gas stations, the electric grid, water systems. Demarse said people should prepare themselves for potential shortages of all essentials and that businesses should be stocking up for extra sales.

There’s also the concern about the weather.

“This year’s been unusual,” Demarse said. “So is it going to be 50-60 degrees that day or are we going to have a snowstorm?”

He said there could be 30-degree difference from where visitors come from.

–

Tupper Lake

–

Cole’s plan for the fire department is to have several crews set up for standby at the firehouse on the day of the big event, so they can spread out through the town depending on the severity of the call directly on the firetrucks. This should make response times faster.

Cole anticipates with the influx of people in town, it will be more difficult getting around. Normally, fire department members show up to calls in their personal vehicles. But by having them all in one truck, that should reduce the traffic they’re creating and work through the congestion easier, he said.

“We’re hoping for the best, that it’s not going to be so congested that you can’t get around,” Cole said. “But, you know, one way or another, we’re going to have to.”

The eclipse comes during Tupper Lake’s spring break, but Cole said he hopes to have at least three crews of five on standby.

“The more the merrier,” he said.

Asked if he hopes no calls come in around the actual time of the eclipse, so he and his members can enjoy it, Cole said he just hopes there aren’t any calls throughout the whole week, period.

“I’ve been planning (for) that day since April of last year,” Tupper Lake Police Chief Eric Proulx said.

Because the town does not have a police contract with the village department anymore, and the Wild Center is over the village line, Proulx said his officers won’t be responsible for that location. But L.P. Quinn Elementary School, right down the road, is in the village and will also be hosting an eclipse viewing event.

Though the majority of people are expected to be in the town outside the village for the eclipse itself, Proulx said the whole village will be busy all day long.

He only has seven members in his department, so eclipse day will be an all hands on deck day for them. He’s been promised two Franklin County Sheriffs deputies, and said State Police will be responsible for the town outside the village.

“It’s not like a normal event where I can pull some other departments in the North Country to assist. Everybody’s doing their own thing,” Proulx said. “Nobody has the resources to lend to other people.”

He said they’ll “make do.” His department used to work the Woodsmen’s Field Days, a popular event that drew thousands to Tupper, all weekend just fine and they are no stranger to big events.

Proulx said he’s done some research on eclipse gatherings and found that they mostly bring traffic and parking problems.

“This event isn’t going to be bringing a criminal element, for lack of a better word,” Proulx said. “I don’t expect them to be dealing with assaults and fighting or that kind of thing. Just a large number of people that are going to create traffic problems for a couple of days.”

His biggest concerns are crashes and illegal parking blocking driveways or blocking roads. His focus is for officers patrolling village streets to make sure they remain open and dealing with problems as they arise.

–

Saranac Lake

–

Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brenden Keough said his department’s plan is still a work in progress. Similar to during Winter Carnival, he said they’ll be response ready.

One of his main concerns is people hiking back or driving down roads and getting stuck or lost or hurt.

There’s also a potential for forest fires if people camp and don’t manage their fires.

“The snow pack is going quick,” Keough said.

Saranac Lake police were not able to be reached for this article.

–

Lake Placid

–

Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department Chief Michael St. Louis said Lake Placid might be a “ghost town” in terms of locals, since the eclipse takes place during the schools’ spring break, but they expect lots of visitors.

He said his department is still working on developing their plan and they’ll release more details later this month.

Lake Placid police were not able to be reached for this article.

–

Essex County

–

Essex County Emergency Services Coordinator Matthew Watts said his office will be opening an emergency operations center on the day of the event; putting an additional dispatcher on each shift at the 911 call center on the day before, the day of and the day after the event; and staging additional medic cars in areas where there is expected to be high volume of people.

“We will be monitoring traffic coming in and should we need to expand operations we will be able to do so rapidly,” Watts said in a statement. “We are encouraging local fire and EMS departments to have crews in their station ready to respond. We expect roadways to potentially be clogged with traffic which would cause delays if their members are trying to respond from home.

“We encourage and hope that everyone will go to designated viewing areas,” Watts added. “Our other area of concern is people going into the High Peaks on the trails. This is a concern due to the time of year it is with snow still being a concern as well as some trails being completely mud as well. Temperatures are a serious concern because if people go into the woods when its sunny and warm, that quickly changes when the sun is gone and people may not be dressed appropriately for the weather conditions they could encounter.”