KENMORE, N.Y. — Firefighters from stations across the Town of Tonawanda and Kenmore on Saturday rallied together to hold their own fundraiser for the family of Jason Arno, the Buffalo firefighter who died earlier this month.
They asked the community to help "Fill the Boot" at a number of locations across Western New York.
Firefighters told 2 On Your Side Saturday that they want to give back, because of their sense of brotherhood with other first responders.
"It's just basically comraderie between the fire companies," said Ron Whipkey, the second assistant chief at Sheridan Park. "I mean, when one goes down, we all feel for them, so we want to give them a hand and help them out."
Added David McGregor, second assistant chief of the Kenmore Fire Department: "We all decided to find a corner to collect from, and we've been doing a very good job with it. I'm sure the family is going to be well taken care of, but anything to try and help out a brother firefighter is very important to us."
McGregor said that their fire department in Kenmore knows the pain of losing one of their own all too well, because it's a tragedy they went through more than 20 years ago.