Lynn gets by with a little help from NY friends

LYNN – Armed with front-end loaders, dump trucks and muscles, the reinforcements have arrived!”I’ve only seen this much snow once before, and that was in Buffalo, where you expect big snows,” Jerry Fratolill, of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., and an employee of the New York State Department of Transportation, said Thursday. “They had 7 feet in three days ? it’s the only place I’ve ever seen more.”Crews from New Jersey and New York, along with members of the National Guard, are stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford to help the state dig out from beneath 70-plus inches of snow that have fallen in the last three weeks.Fratolill and Mark Piscitelli, of Hornell, N.Y., arrived Wednesday night and were deployed this morning to Lynn along with two other workers from New York.They aren’t the only out-of-staters in the Commonwealth helping out.The departments of transportation in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania all contributed workers and machinery, according to Gov. Charlie Baker’s office.The Maine National Guard, the City of New York Department of Sanitation, the New York Thruway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and Vermont National Guard have also supplied workers and equipment, including snow melters, dump trucks, backhoes, and more, the governor’s office announced.It was the first trip for each out of state, with most of their traveling dedicated to areas of Long Island and upstate New York, the men said.The two were clearing out the sidewalk in front of Gallagher Park Thursday afternoon as part of a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift that they said they will repeat every day they are here. They said they have no idea where they will go each day, and neither had been to the area before.”It’s kind of hard for us because we don’t know what it looks like without the snow,” Fratolill said. “We have to be really cautious.”As for their impressions of the area, they didn’t have much to say – having seen mostly just snow.But they had one question:”What’s up with the cheap gas?” Piscitelli asked. “We saw one for $1.99, and I texted all the guys back home. They were all like, ?Bring some home.'”Which is, for now, scheduled for Wednesday. Due to weather forecasts, they might even see more snow than they saw this November in Buffalo.”You guys can’t handle this, nobody could.” Piscitelli said. “And If you guys get that snow you’re supposed to get this weekend, you’re screwed.”