Amherst · University Village at Sweet Home

A Fire Alarm Pulled at UB Housing, and a Cologne of Alcohol Rolling Away in a Light Blue Kia

The Ellicott Creek company was toned out for an alarm activation at the American Campus / University Village at Sweet Home; APD wanted a black male “who smells of alcohol and made some questionable statements” to the complainant. Fifteen minutes later the reset came back: malicious pull, avoidable.

At 22:59, Amherst Fire Dispatch put Ellicott Creek FD on a “Fire Alarm Activation 283, American Campus, University Village at Sweet Home” at University Village at Sweet Home — the American Campus student-housing complex on Sweet Home Road[*] in Amherst. Amherst PD immediately followed with a suspect description, per a complainant driving on the property: a “black male wearing dark clothing that smells of alcohol and made some questionable statements to our complainant” in a “driving a light blue Kia”.

At 23:14, with no smoke or fire found, the reset came in on the Amherst-Clarence trunk: “Malicious pull. Alarm is reset. We'll mark it avoidable.”. The alarm was cleared as avoidable. Whether the man in the light blue Kia and the pulled station on the wall were the same story on the ground is a question that never made it back onto the radio.

Amherst · 1701 Niagara Falls Boulevard

A Man, a Truck, and a Garden Hose Behind the Carhartt Store

Off-duty caller: there’s a guy trying to put out a fire next to his pickup with a garden hose. North Bailey Fire got up. APD got there first. There was, in the end, no active fire.

At 23:49, an off-duty officer called in a possible vehicle fire in the rear parking lot of the Carhartt at 1701 Niagara Falls Boulevard, between Romney Road and Ridge Lea Road[*] [heard: Ridge Lee Road]: “in off-duty there was a male trying to put out a fire next to his truck with a garden hose”. Amherst Fire dispatched North Bailey to investigate an unknown-type fire behind the building — possibly next to a vehicle.

The follow-up landed at 23:52, three minutes after the tone: “APD is on location right now saying there is no active fire at this time”. Fire Control called the response off; the crews were told to disregard. What the off-duty officer actually saw — a smoking exhaust, an unlit BBQ, a guy just watering the asphalt after a long day — is still, on the radio, unaccounted for.

Amherst · 4036 Bailey Avenue

Bicycle Struck by a Car in Front of 4036 Bailey; Fire and PD Both Roll

The first indication came in on Amherst Fire; APD had already been there a beat.

At 15:10, Amherst Fire Dispatch cleared the airwave with a call from Fire Control: a bicycle was struck by a vehicle “in front of 4-0-3-6”. Amherst PD came back inside two seconds with the shorthand: “36 Bailey”, followed by unit acknowledgements. Both agencies were on location by 15:16; a patient was left in care of Twin City Ambulance and North Bailey went back open.

Amherst · 990/290 on-ramp

Four-Wheeler on the 290 at the 990 — a Rider With Shoulder Pain

Not something you hear every day on the Amherst-Clarence trunk.

Just before 21:36, Amherst Fire Dispatch put out a motor-vehicle accident on the 290 westbound in the area of the 990 involving what the dispatcher called a “290 westbound in the area of the 990, four-wheeler”. Amherst PD came back with a status: “one driver complaining of shoulder pain”. North Bailey 9 was en route by 21:37, and by 21:38 the roadway was open again.

Amherst · Nickel City Dentistry · 4498 Main Street

Behind the Dentist’s Office, a Man in a Blue Shirt and a Woman in a Denim Jumper

Whatever they were doing, they were doing it near the dumpsters.

At 15:51, Amherst PD called out the back lot of the “Nickel City Dentistry, 4498 Main Street” on Main Street: “two people in the back lot near the dumpsters, believed to be doing drugs”. The description that followed — “a white male, blue shirt and jeans and a white female, pink shirt and denim jumper” — is the sort of specificity that tells you a passerby has actually stopped and looked. Dispatch, for its part, made no promises about which of the day’s cars would get to it first.

Amherst · Wegmans on Transit

A Flyer on Her Windshield — Only Hers — and a Couple of Guys Watching

Amherst PD ran the report as-called from the Wegmans parking lot on Transit.

At 15:18, Amherst PD relayed a jumpy call from the Wegmans on Transit: “It occurred at the Wegmans on Transit. A flyer was left on her car, and it was only her car that the flyer was left on. She was concerned about that. She said there were some guys that were staring her down”. There is a specific, chilly modernity to that combination — a targeted flyer, a set of watchers, no other overtly criminal act to attach the fear to — and the responding unit did what units do with such calls, which is take a report and mark it clear.

Getzville · Amherst Fire

Getzville Held on a Call For What Dispatch Called “Popcorn in the Microwave”

Somewhere in Amherst, a bag was left in a beat too long.

At 15:18, Amherst Fire Dispatch broadcast the resolution to what had briefly been a smoke-detector call: “We start Popcorn in the Microwave, holding with Getzville”. Nothing more elegant than that: not a fire, not a hazard, just a burnt bag of Orville Redenbacher hitting the ionization sensor of a very earnest smoke detector, and a truck sent back to quarters.

Amherst Fire · Careless Discard of Bespoke Utensils

“Careless Discard of Bespoke Utensils. Fire Out on Arrival.”

A sentence you would like to see engraved somewhere.

At 18:06, Amherst Fire Dispatch closed one of the day’s smaller books with a line that could have been printed on a fireman’s tote bag: “Careless discard of bespoke utensils. Fire out on arrival”. The clearest translation from radio into English is “somebody threw a cigarette in the wrong container,” but we would prefer, this once, not to make it any plainer.

Gasport · Absolute Health Care

80-Year-Old Male, Unresponsive, Choking on a Peanut Butter Sandwich

Niagara County Fire Control did not spare the detail.

At 21:10, Niagara County Fire Dispatch toned out Gasport, Tri-Town, and Mercy EMS to Absolute Health Care of Gasport, 4540 Lincoln Drive, between Forrest and Washington: “80 year old male, unresponsive, choking on a peanut butter sandwich”. There is a specific pathos to the fully-inventoried radio call, and this is one — not the ambiguous “choking”, not the merciful “choking on food”, but the whole sandwich, named on the air.

CB Channel 6 · late afternoon

“You Loud As a Four O’Clock Whistle, Double-Throw It, Y’all”

A voice on CB 06, testing the water and finding it fine.

At 18:43, a CB voice on Channel 6 came back on a check-in with the line of the window: “You loud as a four o'clock whistle, double-throw it, y'all”. The earlier setup was in keeping: “I say hello and I hope you're doing well while I'm testing the water”. There is still a country out on the citizens’ band, and it is much of it in the mouth of one man in a truck.

Buffalo East Side · 40 Edison Avenue · Working Fire

A 3 a.m. Working Fire on Edison, in a 2½-Story Wood-Frame the Company Reported Vacant

BFD ran three engines and three ladders to Edison between East Delavan and Easton; the hydrant out front turned out to be out of service.

At 03:47, Buffalo Fire Ch. 1 Dispatch put out a structure-fire response to 40 Edison Avenue, between East Delavan Avenue[*] and Easton Avenue[*]: “So go for Engine 31, Engine 23, Engine 33”, with Ladders 14, 7 and 6, Squad 1, and battalion chiefs 41, 47, and 56. Almost immediately Dispatch appended a small qualifier of the sort that changes the entire timbre of a working fire: “It is reported that the structure may be vacant”.

By 04:47, on BFD’s fire-ground channel, the command line came in with a real report: “40 Edison, 2 1/2 stories, wood frame, vacant, fire started on the first floor, extended to the second”. Twenty-two minutes later, at 05:09, a note back to Dispatch that only a working fire generates: “Just let the water department know the hydrant in front of 40, Edison, is out of service”. Overhaul from the fire-ground included pulling walls and ceilings; command’s comment before the hydrant note was the flat, tired “Still have a lot of spots to clean up. Needed a thruster down here to start pulling walls and ceilings”.