I may not have been reading the huge number of internet articles closely - did this occur at the VERY large Champlain border crossing or at the Rouses Point border crossing (about a mile from the restaurant) ? Having lived in Rouses Point for many years, the much smaller crossing (handles only a total of two cars at once), can let you can proceed through quickly. The size of the Champlain crossing is directly proportional to the red tape and confusion - just too many cooks stirring the soup. Obviously this delay would NOT have happened with the two or three agents that staff each shift in Rouses Point. A big structure, in their own village, a mile away, engulfed in flames would probably have had one of the Customs agents waving the trucks through and hopping on to help fight the fire. We are a town of 2000 people and many citizens are volunteer fire fighters. If the agents thought they needed verification that there actually was a fire, they could have walked down the street to the fire station - a distance equivalent to the length of a football field. This is why I prefer living in small town America - the beaucracy is minimal and flexible!