Amherst Fire District Disparity.

[jennifer7]

Cheekowaga has 29 Engines that that costs range from $500,000 a piece for a basic bare bone engine (what Buffalo, Lackawanna, Depew buys) to $900,000 for a loaded engine with all the toys (like Lancaster FD's buy) 9 Ladder Trucks that are 1.5 Million a piece , 6 Heavy Rescue's that are 1 million a piece, 30 light rescues, pick ups, suburbans & 30 take home chiefs, that are also the newest Tahoe model for 65,000 to 70,000 is insane Lackawanna has 2 Engines & 1 Ladder , Niagara Falls has
5 Engines, 2 Ladder Trucks, 1 Heavy Rescue , City of Tonawanda has 2 Engine's, 1 Ladder Truck, 1 Heavy Rescue, Cheektowaga right sized for a population of 70,000 people would 5 or 6 Engines, 1 or 2 Ladder Trucks, 1 Heavy Rescue, 1 Chief out of 6 or 7 Stations

Cheektowaga has a whole has 88 pieces of Apparatus LOL

Bellevue E1, E2, E3, E4, U5, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1, C9-2
Cleveland Hill E1, E2, E3, U5, L6 ,R7, R7-1 C9, C9-1, C9-2, C9-3
Doyle 1 E1, E2, U5, L6, R7-1 C9, C9-1, C9-2
Doyle 2 E3, R7, R7-1, C9 C9-1, C9-2
Forks E1, E2, L6, R7, R7-1, R7-2
Hy View E1, E2, E3, U5, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1 C9-2
Pine Hill E2, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1
Rescue Hose E1, E2, L6, R7, R7-1 C9 C9-1, C9-2
Sloan E1 E2 R7-1, No chief SUV
South Line E1, E2, E3, U5, U5-1 L6, R7 R7-1, R7-2 C7-3, C9, C9-1, C9-2
U-Crest E1, E2, E3, U5, L6, R7, R7-1, C9 C-9-1

[jennifer7]

Cheektowaga has a whole has 88 pieces of Apparatus LOL

Bellevue E1, E2, E3, E4, U5, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1, C9-2
Cleveland Hill E1, E2, E3, U5, L6 ,R7, R7-1 C9, C9-1, C9-2, C9-3
Doyle 1 E1, E2, U5, L6, R7-1 C9, C9-1, C9-2
Doyle 2 E3, R7, R7-1, C9 C9-1, C9-2
Forks E1, E2, L6, R7, R7-1, R7-2
Hy View E1, E2, E3, U5, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1 C9-2
Pine Hill E2, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1
Rescue Hose E1, E2, L6, R7, R7-1 C9 C9-1, C9-2
Sloan E1 E2 R7-1, No chief SUV
South Line E1, E2, E3, U5, U5-1 L6, R7 R7-1, R7-2 C7-3, C9, C9-1, C9-2
U-Crest E1, E2, E3, U5, L6, R7, R7-1, C9 C-9-1

Forgot a few

Bellevue E1, E2, E3, E4, U5, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1, C9-2
Cleveland Hill E1, E2, E3, U5, L6 ,R7, R7-1 C9, C9-1, C9-2, C9-3
Doyle 1 E1, E2, U5, L6, R7-1 C9, C9-1, C9-2
Doyle 2 E3, R7, R7-1, C9 C9-1, C9-2
Forks E1, E2, L6, R7, R7-1, R7-2 C9, C9-1 , C9-2
Hy View E1, E2, E3, U5, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1 C9-2
Pine Hill E2, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1
Rescue Hose E1, E2, L6, R7, R7-1 C9 C9-1, C9-2
Sloan E1 E2 R7-1, No chief SUV
South Line E1, E2, E3, U5, U5-1 L6, R7 R7-1, R7-2 C7-3, C9, C9-1, C9-2
U-Crest E1, E2, E3, U5, L6, R7, R7-1, C9 C-9-1

[4248]

The first thing to remember is - someone does know where every penny is spent. They have to have those documents available for inspection - now whether or not they cooperate with you is another point. Who on the Town Board is the Committee rep for that ?

I cant believe that they have "30 light rescues, pick ups, suburban's & 30 take home chiefs" - ??????? What type/size vehicle is used as a "Light rescue" - how many "pick ups and what do they carry - "30 take home vehicles" is just incredibly wasteful and makes no sense. You need to get actual counts before just making blanket statements.

Do the Chiefs get any "pay" or "stipend" or "allowance" ?

Besides being necessary for the safety of the community - The true underlying problem - as you all know is Politics. Volunteer departments voting blocks can make or break any local party/candidate.

Most positions that carry any rank what so ever is Political in nature - hence the perks. Not saying they aren't highly trained or didn't earn their titles - they do and it isn't easy. But thirty people with take home vehicles is a in your face abuse of funds.

What's needed is a complete Town wide - district by district needs study. To include area covered by each fire house - type of fire load in each and what equipment would be able to get the job done. Response times must also be examined and made acceptable. Man power will be determined by the number of volunteers available per district.

But which status quo politician is gonna risk their seat to say it needs to be done and made public ? Instead they will instigate the volunteers to wage a verbal war against any politician or person who brings it up. The officials will cry, "If it saves just one life - I won't stand for anyone insulting our selfless brave volunteers" - that's enough to not commit to a study and secure volunteer votes.

Good luck with all the chatter !

[jennifer7]

The first thing to remember is - someone does know where every penny is spent. They have to have those documents available for inspection - now whether or not they cooperate with you is another point. Who on the Town Board is the Committee rep for that ?

I cant believe that they have "30 light rescues, pick ups, suburban's & 30 take home chiefs" - ??????? What type/size vehicle is used as a "Light rescue" - how many "pick ups and what do they carry - "30 take home vehicles" is just incredibly wasteful and makes no sense. You need to get actual counts before just making blanket statements.

Do the Chiefs get any "pay" or "stipend" or "allowance" ?

Besides being necessary for the safety of the community - The true underlying problem - as you all know is Politics. Volunteer departments voting blocks can make or break any local party/candidate.

Most positions that carry any rank what so ever is Political in nature - hence the perks. Not saying they aren't highly trained or didn't earn their titles - they do and it isn't easy. But thirty people with take home vehicles is a in your face abuse of funds.

What's needed is a complete Town wide - district by district needs study. To include area covered by each fire house - type of fire load in each and what equipment would be able to get the job done. Response times must also be examined and made acceptable. Man power will be determined by the number of volunteers available per district.

But which status quo politician is gonna risk their seat to say it needs to be done and made public ? Instead they will instigate the volunteers to wage a verbal war against any politician or person who brings it up. The officials will cry, "If it saves just one life - I won't stand for anyone insulting our selfless brave volunteers" - that's enough to not commit to a study and secure volunteer votes.

Good luck with all the chatter !

Most of the Volunteer FD's are controlled by dictators & their families and most work for the repective town's or county government, some even have 2 or 3 different pay checks & pensions coming from their Town and have been in power and controlling them for decades and like having control of the yearly 7 digits checks, take home SUV's, the stipends, the Conventions to Florida, Las Vegas etc.. eating streak, lobster & wine on the taxpayer dollar, while it's the same people & clicks that get to go. Now I here they treat most of their membership like crap and are constantly threaten them to keep their mouth shut and are forbidden to talk about anything on social media Then they wonder why no one shows up for calls and no one wants join.

[Member 2358]

Possibly, consolidation as you describe it could be practical & efficient in some areas/towns (Cheektowaga, in your example). I'm not 100% sold on it, but I'm open to it's possibility. In Amherst - where Schoelles Road guy lives - though I'm not at all convinced consolidation would be well received by anyone - fire folks or residents. Despite believing that he's getting hosed (pun intended) tax-wise by North Amherst Fire, I'll bet that a response time to any emergency he has at home would be quite rapid. I bet he likes that, no? Now, if all the Amherst fire departments were to merge and reduce aggregate equipment and "staff", some areas are going to have less. I'd imagine that allocation of remaining equipment and "staff" would be done based on (among other things) population density, right. North Amherst is (I believe) the least dense area of Amherst... sooooooo, they get less, right? But wait, Schoelles Road guy will now be paying the exact same amount as I do in (much more dense - and, presumably, more outfitted) Eggertsville or Snyder. I bet Schoelles Road guy would then say that is not fair.

[WNYresident]

Jennifer has to be wrong with the amount of equipment the volly's have. I was skimming other areas in the USA for examples and they seem to have less for larger populations. I wasn't cherry picking either.

[jennifer7]

Jennifer has to be wrong with the amount of equipment the volly's have. I was skimming other areas in the USA for examples and they seem to have less for larger populations. I wasn't cherry picking either.

NOT WRONG !! I'm Always Right, More importantly, notice everywhere else in the country that the FD's are Advanced Life Support Level and Pararmedic Level
and have FD Ambulance's

Here's Bellevue Fleet E1, E2, E3, E4, U5, L6, R7-1, C9, C9-1 C9-2 on the front cover
https://www.facebook.com/bellevuefire/

[jennifer7]

You notice Sloan FD has 2 engines & Rescue truck and No take home SUV's NONE not even for the chief or no fancy fire Hall as big as the Town Highway DPW and they seem to be getting buy and are right sized Because they don't have tens, tens & tens of millions to throw down the toliet.

[jennifer7]

You notice Sloan FD has 2 engines & Rescue truck and No take home SUV's NONE not even for the chief or no fancy fire Hall as big as the Town Highway DPW and they seem to be getting buy and are right sized Because they don't have tens, tens & tens of millions to throw down the toliet.

http://www.sloanfd.org/

[jennifer7]

http://www.sloanfd.org/

And Sloan doesn't get a yearly 7 digit blank check to do what ever they want with it , Every time they need to make a large purchase they need to show village council that their need and the council has to approve itt like how all of the rest is country citys towns & villages who have a Town Manager, something WNY Towns & Citys don't have

[jennifer7]

Jennifer has to be wrong with the amount of equipment the volly's have. I was skimming other areas in the USA for examples and they seem to have less for larger populations. I wasn't cherry picking either.

RE: Jennifer has to be wrong with the amount of equipment the volly's have.

Still waiting to be proved Wrong ?? Also show me another area in top 100 largest US Metro areas that don't have paid FD's with ALS EMS level Paramedics & have FD Ambulances or have County run or City Run EMS Division running Paramedic Ambulance's ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkdmOVejUlI

[jennifer7]

RE: Jennifer has to be wrong with the amount of equipment the volly's have.

Still waiting to be proved Wrong ?? Also show me another area in top 100 largest US Metro areas that don't have paid FD's with ALS EMS level Paramedics & have FD Ambulances or have County run or City Run EMS Division running Paramedic Ambulance's ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkdmOVejUlI

Better yet !! Good Story for the local tv stations & newpaper's to ask why is WNY so far behind the national standards and still getting 1960's EMS level when it's 2018 ???? and are they any plans to conform to national standards ? Also why is the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus not even a Adult Trauma Center Level ?