BUFFALO, N.Y. — From safe boating events, to recruiting drives, or out on the water, you may have encountered the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard.
But we asked to go more behind the scenes to better understand their mission from search and rescue, to protecting us on our coastlines and waterways, to law enforcement, and even what they call aids to navigation.
So think of the Coast Guard's Buffalo Station like a fire station where they're always keeping watch.
Senior Chief Travis Ruterbusch is the Officer in Charge of the U.S. Coast Guard Station Buffalo. He said of his crews, "They're ready to go and deploy on a Coast Guard response boat within 30 minutes."
Their specific zone of responsibility is from Dunkirk to up the Niagara River as part of Great Lakes District, which is one of the busiest areas for the Coast Guard in the entire country.
Ruterbusch pointed out: "Lake Erie can turn at a moment's notice. It's the shallowest lake out of of all the Great Lakes, which means that it can go from flat calm to very, very choppy, very hazardous weather conditions in a bat of an eye."
He says it can be a variety of missions.
"We could have a kayaker who flipped over right outside of the the Coast Guard station here and can't get back in their kayak — maybe the water temperature is cold that day — so we're looking at possible hypothermia conditions," Ruterbusch said.
"Or we could have a vessel that just ran out of gas and it's a few miles offshore. Maybe the weather is turning, and we need to get out there, and get them back to shore before they possibly capsize that vessel."
Their dispatch calls come in through transferred 911, and they also monitor Marine Radio VHF Channel 16.
Sometimes they will call in a Coast Guard helicopter out of Detroit to handle a rescue with those dramatic airborne hoists to safety
But the lake is not their only concern, as we found out with our ride aboard their 45-foot medium response boat, which is powered by twin diesel engines and jet drive propulsion.
Ruterbusch noted: "It's pretty unique. It's almost like a giant jet ski and it's pretty quick for how big it is."
Yup, we found out when they opened it up a bit to charge into the Niagara River which can really test those powerful engines and be treacherous for inexperienced or somewhat careless boaters or those on jet skis.
Petty Officer First Class Timothy Stamm said, "Are the vessels overloaded. That's a big one here because we get a lot of guys come out — they don't realize, you know they put on, their entire family comes with them so they overload the boat — create unsafe situation. Doesn't matter how good a swimmer you are, if you fall off a jet ski you're going to be away from that thing in minutes. It's going to pull you away."
During out brief ride Senior Chief Ruterbusch pointed out that, "You can see the water ripping through here. The International Peace Bridge area here between Canada and the U.S."
These Coast Guard crews obviously have at times very dangerous duties. That was brought home tragically when two Coast Guard members from the Youngstown station died from hypothermia in March 2001 as their smaller boat was overturned by a rogue four foot on Lake Ontario while they were on a patrol.
As for that law enforcement and Homeland Security part of their mission you will note they carry sidearms and some of their boats can easily mount machine guns. Ruterbusch said, "We are ever vigilant patrolling the waters between the U.S. and Canada looking for threats and making sure our presence is known."
That also extends to any giant lake freighters pulling in to Buffalo's port.
But they do share responsibility with a shared border as Senior Chief Ruterbusch said, "We train with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force. We are also trained with them to conduct joint law enforcement patrols."
Coast Guard Buffalo has another perhaps overlooked mission. That is placing and maintaining navigation aids or buoys to make sure boaters steer clear of danger and stay on course in channels. Coast Guard Fireman Cole Mason said "I know we are responsible for over 350 Aids to Navigation assets. So the entirety of Lake Ontario and most of Lake Erie."
And of course they must remove most of those buoys in the fall before winter ice damages them and then replace them again in the spring aboard buoy tender ships.
To do all this work, Coast Guard Buffalo Station is actually getting new buildings. They are expected to be done next year to replace the current aging 1960s and 1970s era structures which take a winter weather beating. Lt. William Kelley told us "The new facility here is built to withstand all those expected environmental challenges from being right here on the waterfront."
The Coast Guard is technically under Homeland Security with its 55,000 personnel.
But like many other military branches recruiting is difficult and as of 2023 the Government Accounting Office reported it was 4,800 members short of its recruiting goal.
So the Coast Guard, which covers 100,000 miles of coastline and waterways, has had to adjust some of its station staffing.