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Buffalo City Council: City fleet review with emergency director for future storm planning

Buffalo firefighters, police officers, and their union leaders backed council members' push with resolutions to improve the city's response.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — In the aftermath of the massive Christmas week blizzard that hit the City of Buffalo especially hard, members of the common council are now formally calling on Mayor Byron Brown's Administration to review and upgrade the city's emergency vehicle fleet and to appoint a city emergency manager.  

Buffalo firefighters, police officers, and their union leaders were at Tuesday's city council meeting to back council members' push with resolutions to improve the city's response to events like the blizzard.

As Councilman David Rivera of the Niagara District put it, "Nobody wants to finger point at the mayor - it's not about finger pointing or being Monday morning quarterback. We're all in the same boat - we just wanna make sure we're rowing in the same direction and I think we should do an assessment."

Beyond that, as mentioned before, some council members also want to see a specific city emergency management director lead training, oversee the preparation, and seek recovery funding. And especially handle planning as South District Councilman Chris Scanlon points out "You've got to be more prepared when talking about coordinating the Buffalo police department, fire department, public works, local hospitals - you name it. Any and all essential organizations that would respond to a natural disaster."

Then Scanlon also feels there must be an inventory of city vehicles. "We have equipment that is nearing 20 years old in some of these departments and has been referenced for example - a large apparatus in the fire department - we can order it today but we're not gonna see it for two years. There's equipment within that department that has cracked frames. And again the same thing in the Department of Public Works whether it is plows, packers, and other equipment from both the streets and sanitation."

President Vinny Ventresca of the Buffalo Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 282 who was at the council meeting told 2 on Your Side,"We've been telling the city directly that they need to purchase equipment on a regular basis and make these improvements in infrastructure for the fire department and other departments as well. And hopefully, now this horrible storm will shed some light on that. A big part of the workload that we do is EMS - so absolutely we should have this other equipment for winter operations. We should be training on winter operations. A big part of the workload that we do is EMS - so absolutely we should have this other equipment for winter operations. We should be training on winter operations "

Now the question is how to pay for these ideas and vehicles. 

Some council members suggested maybe FEMA funding but that might take years and is generally for recovery funding. Another brought up leftover American Rescue Plan funding which the city already earmarked for other programs. However, there might be eligibility issues. 

A spokesman for Mayor Brown says the administration is open to a city emergency manager but still feels their idea of a fleet manager is the priority.

As we have reported, the City of Buffalo is planning to buy a small all-wheel drive ambulance vehicle to gain access to snow-clogged side - streets. We spoke with Scott Carlisle who is the General Manager of the ASAP Medstat firm in Ohio which would build and sell that vehicle to the city. 

"It's an all-wheel drive vehicle so it's four-wheel drive. We have two axles that are drive-able axles - four wheels so it will do well in mud, and it will do well in snow. Really extremely deep snows might be more of a challenge but definitely, it will get through and transport in areas where normal ambulances won't be able to get to."

The firm also makes small vehicles that can carry an 80-gallon tank of water or foam and hoses for firefighting but it is not a tracked vehicle with treads like a tank.

Erie County is also looking to boost its snow response fleet including more specialized vehicles. The Sheriff's Office has two all-terrain tracked vehicles in addition to snowmobiles which were used by deputies during the storm to rescue stranded drivers. 

They even came across an abandoned Buffalo Police vehicle. A spokesperson says Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz supports the idea of buying two more of the tracked vehicles with a bed that could be used to transport a patient on a stretcher.     

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