getting louder. just how bad is it there, chris? >> reporter: here is one of the most serious situations that can happen after a snowstorm in new york city when you can't get to the streets to plow them. you can see behind me, firefighters are here on the scene. down the block, they received a phone call, and, take a look. the plows were only able to get about so far down this street and then they couldn't. there are at least one and i think now two taxi cabs that are blocking the plows. so what's happening here is the firefighters got off from their engine unit and walked all of the way down the block. we're not sure what type of emergency situation they are responding to but they couldn't even get their trucks close to the home where there was a problem. they walked down the block with shovels, oxygen tanks, carrying their heavy equipment down the street to see if they can get to their home. if we find out what the situation is, we will report on that as the day progresses but