HOLYOKE — A 98-year-old Wedgewood Terrace woman who briefly found herself stuck on her second-floor roof after she crawled out a window to knock icicles off her home with a broom Monday morning managed to rescue herself just as firefighters arrived.



The woman, who said she was too embarrassed to give a reporter her name, said she used to go out on the flat section of her roof for icicle duty all the time. She said she stopped at the behest of family members about two years ago.



Today, though, the lengthening icicles glistening in the morning sun proved too tantalizing to resist and the woman — who turns 99 next month — said she decided to grab a broom and climb out the window to hack away at them.



"I just felt that I should just go out and clear [them]," she said.



Fire Capt. Anthony Cerruti said people should not be going out onto their roofs, especially this time of year, no matter what their age.



"It's a bad place to be if it's slippery," he said.



The woman said she made it safely out the window, but quickly realized the roof was far too icy to approach the edge; so, she tried to head back inside.



She said she ran into trouble when she discovered the open window had slipped down a few inches. The woman managed to slide her legs into the window, but her upper body remained stuck outside.



Fortunately, before crawling out the window, the woman had been on the phone with her daughter-in-law and mentioned she was about to go outside to work on snow and ice removal.



"I asked her if she wanted to go to the mall and she said 'No, I want to go out and shovel'," the daughter-in-law said, adding that she and her own daughter quickly hustled to Wedgewood Terrace upon hearing the plan.

The daughter-in-law called 911 after arriving at the woman's home and finding her stuck on the roof.



"Ooh! I was so mad that they called (firefighters)!" the 98-year-old said. "I didn't need them."



The sounds of the firefighters' voice down below gave her the strength to finally clamber back inside, she said.



"By time we got there she was safely back inside," Cerutti said.



Asked if her roof-climbing and ice-whacking days were over, the woman smiled and said: "Yes — for now."



"She better not do it again, I can tell you that," the daughter-in-law said.



Cerutti acknowledged that it is prudent for residents to remove snow and ice from their roofs, especially as temperatures are forecast to approach the 50s later this week. Such rapid thaws can lead to ice dams, forcing water up into the shingles and then down into the home.



"Get a snow rake and do it from a nice safe place, like on the ground," Cerutti said. "Or, even better: Hire somebody if you need too."



Those using roof rakes should beware of overhead power lines. Also, those attempting to clear ice from their roofs should never use blow torches, Cerutti said.



Cerutti also recommended anyone attempting to do roof-clearing chores to carry a cell phone and let others know of their plans.



Dennis Leger, aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant, said he is not currently aware of any roof issues within the city in the wake of the recent snowstorms.



Mindful of the snow forecast to fall Tuesday, however, Leger, asked city residents to help firefighters by shoveling out the fire hydrants in front of their homes.



Snowplow operators, meanwhile, should take care not to bury hydrants as they clear snow, Leger said.



CBS3 meteorologist Mike Skurko is predicting 2 to 4 more inches of snow for Western Massachusetts Tuesday.