Buffalo, NY (WBEN) A new aerial ladder fire truck has arrived for the Buffalo Fire Department. A new rapid response ambulance will soon arrive, and both vehicles will have tracks to help in inclement weather.
A new aerial ladder fire truck has arrived for the Buffalo Fire Department. The ne truck uses a 'platform' that raises to keep firefighters in a safer working environment during poor conditions.
A new rapid response ambulance will soon arrive, and both vehicles will have tracks to help in inclement weather.
Buffalo Fire Commissioner Bill Renaldo tells WBEN the department has taken delivery of a $1.8 million aerial ladder truck, and will soon have a rapid response vehicle, which he describes as a mini-ambulance. Renaldo says they look like other BFD vehicles. "The only difference in apparatus we've ordered recently is that rapid response vehicle, which is a tracked vehicle, and we're also looking into ordering additional what we call a UTV," or utility terrain vehicle, says Renaldo. "It's basically a giant ATV with tracks, so they refer to as our UTV. So we're looking at incorporating some of them into our fleet as well." He says the vehicles are wheeled but can be changed to track during the winter season.
Renaldo says firefighters will have to undergo a certification process before operating the vehicles. He says training usually lasts a week.
Renaldo says while the issue of getting around snowy roads came up during the recent blizzard, the idea of getting these vehicle came long before. "We started looking at these after the incident at Tops on 5/14," says Renaldo. "We needed a vehicle from a winter standpoint where streets are inaccessible. So the way we're going to operate this vehicle is it will it will be able to access our side streets, snow clogged streets or blocked by cars, retrieve a patient and get them out to a main drag where they can be loaded onto an ambulance and then sent to hospital."
The new fire truck arrived last week. The ambulance should be here in 8 to 10 months, according to Renaldo.