Around the NeighborhoodWilliamsville · Amherst · Clarence · near neighbors
Working Fire → Steam Scare
Pool House Smoke at the Park Country Club Pulls a Full Box Out of Quarters at Sunrise
Wayne DeVille tones a structure fire at 4949 Sheridan Drive; arriving units find no fire — just water-heater exhaust pluming out of the bath house in 33-degree air.
05:54 · Amherst Fire Dispatch / Amherst PD · Park Country Club, 4949 Sheridan Drive, Williamsville
Amherst Fire dispatch toned "Wayne DeVille, Corbett East structure fire at the Park Country Club, 4949 Sheridan Drive"[1] at 05:54, with patrol echoing seconds later that this was a "possible structure fire at Park Country Club 4949 Sheridan Drive for a pool house on fire."[2] Dispatch sharpened the page within the minute — "now we're putting a large amount of smoke coming from the pool house possibly on fire"[3] — and a full alarm rolled in the pre-dawn cold.
The first-arriving patrol unit had the answer almost as fast as the engine had wheels on the apron: "There does not appear to be a fire at this time, steam or exhaust coming from the water heaters."[4] On a morning sitting at 33° under a freeze warning, a pool-house water heater venting hot moist air reads to a passer-by as a building going up. By 06:06 the inside team confirmed: "We walked through the building and there's no problem here."[5] All clear, units holding in quarters. Status: RESOLVED.
Domestic / Child Welfare
Grandfather Choked 4-Year-Old Granddaughter, Then Drove Out of Amherst in a Red Traverse
A Niagara Falls Boulevard domestic ended with the suspect already gone, headed for Cheektowaga; Amherst patrol asked Cheektowaga PD for a welfare check.
17:50 · Amherst PD · 2715 Niagara Falls Boulevard
Just before 5:51 p.m. an Amherst patrol unit cleared a domestic at 2715 Niagara Falls Boulevard with three of the worst sentences a Western New York dispatcher will key up in one breath: "Right path, 2715 Niagara Falls Boulevard on that domestic. Grandfather apparently choked the four-year-old granddaughter and dragged her down the hallway. They left in a red Traverse, comes back out of Cheektowaga."[6] The decision on the air: "We'll call them and have them do a welfare check."[6] No on-air resolution before the window closed.
Echo Response
68-Year-Old in Cardiac Arrest at Sylvan Parkway & Robin Road
Twin City Ambulance dispatched echo — the EMD's most acute tier — for an apartment-B call inside the Bruce Dermuse community.
18:10 · Amherst Fire Dispatch · 175 Robin Road, Apt. B, Williamsville
Amherst Fire toned an echo-level page at 18:10: "Bruce Dermuse from Sylvan Parkway and Robin Road, Apartment B of a 68-year-old female, cardiac arrest."[7] Patrol picked up the echo response under "first aid 175 little Robin Road B boy"[8] and a second car was redirected from a nearby MVA to assist. No on-air patient status was issued before the channel cleared.
MVA
UPS Truck and Passenger Car Tangle at Main & Transit
Twin City evaluating one party; Main-Transit Fire wanted the first two engines on the call.
18:13 · Amherst Fire Dispatch · Main Street at Transit Road
Three minutes after the echo at Robin Road, Amherst Fire stacked another box: "Parked UPS truck"[9] at the Main-Transit intersection, with the dispatcher confirming, "You have a two-car MVA. One is a one-part UPS truck, one is being evaluated with Twin City and hold with rescue."[10] Main-Transit Fire wanted the first two engines on the call; the wreck did not appear to involve serious injury based on the on-air tone.
One-Year-Old
1-Year-Old Choking at Audubon Glen Apartments
Third-party caller; engine and EMS toned in within seconds.
15:58 · Amherst Fire Dispatch · Audubon Glen Apartments, Apt. B, Sheridan/Transit
Amherst Fire dispatched on a one-year-old male in distress at the Audubon Glen Apartments — "apartment B is in Boyd, third-party caller reporting a one-year-old male"[11] — with the page following the second tone as "possibly choking on a small..."[12] the rest cut off. Patrol's confirmation back to dispatch a minute later was four words on a dropping pitch: "You got a one-year-old choking."[13] The call closed quickly enough that medics asked to "turn around if you want" within seven minutes — the standard mid-call retreat that usually means a parent dislodged the obstruction on the way out.
Mental Hygiene
Crisis Services Meets Patrol in a Black Chevy Colorado at Canterbury Square
Mental-health evaluation at apartment 142, 150 South Union; the team in the lot, the patrol assist staged.
19:33 · Amherst PD · Canterbury Square Apartments, 150 South Union, Apt. 142
"You take the assist with crisis services for 150 South Union, Canterbury Square Apartments, apartment 142,"[14] a patrol supervisor told a unit at 19:33, with the rendezvous specified as "a black Chevy Colorado in the lot." The team was "doing a mental health eval on a party there."[15] A standard Amherst patrol-plus-clinician hand-off — the kind of call that keeps the village's evening blotter civil.
Hazmat
Strong Odor of Natural Gas at Princeton Court Apartments — Then Cleared, Zero Readings
Eggertsville EMS and Air Force responded to apartment 4 at 222 Park Avenue; meters came back flat.
21:14 · Amherst Fire Dispatch · Princeton Court Apartments, 222 Park Avenue, Eggertsville
Amherst Fire toned at 21:14: "The caller reported a strong odor of natural gas."[16] Dispatch placed the call at "the Princeton Court Apartments, apartment number 4, between Branch Street and Cambridge Boulevard, reported a strong odor of natural gas, 21:14 hours."[17] Less than nine minutes later the disposition came back over the air: "Clear, no odor of gas, no readings of gas."[18] A second gas check at 58 Delta Road an hour later (22:05 — Echo Zone responding) closed the same way: "Unable to locate the odor that she was smelling. That's clear. Zero readings."[19] Two callers, two zero-reading checks, no fire-and-rescue ventilation needed.
Overheard: The WiresThe strange · the funny · the accidentally poetic
"9R, Can You Open the Side Gate for Chewbacca?"
19:37 · Amherst PD
Five seconds of dispatch traffic Monday evening went unanswered on the air, unexplained in the brief, and will be unmatched in pathos for a long time: "9R, can you open the side gate for Chewbacca?"[20] Unit nine-romeo's reply did not make the channel. Whether Chewbacca is a K-9, a juvenile, a parking valet, or an officer with a nickname is not, and will never be, our problem.
The Clarence Center Child Care Smoke-Out Was the Smoker, Daycare Edition
19:38–19:41 · Amherst Fire Dispatch · 5990 Goodrich Road
Clarence Center Fire toned out at 19:38 to "investigate gray smoke coming from the building, 5990 Goodrich Road"[21] — followed five seconds later by the address-with-pedigree: "5990 Goodrich. The Clarence Center Child Care. New Park Lane and Clarence Center Road."[22] Three minutes later the resolution rolled in across one of the most relatable dispatch lines of the night: "Smoker barbecue, good and fine, you can..."[23] A daycare-adjacent brisket has never been so noisily acquitted.
Pine Squirrel's Wonkertail, Honey Badger Sculpin, and a $149 Bass Pro Confession
18:22–18:30 · FRS Channel 15
The Monday fly-fishing huddle on FRS Channel 15 ran a tight half-hour out of the village, the kind of low-wattage simplex talk the watchlist exists to keep. The state-of-the-art lure roll call alone deserves its own column: "a little honey badger sculpin,"[24] "pine squirrel's wonkertail / with a little bit of flash / little bit of fur."[25] One operator finished the evening with the confession that lands every angler eventually — "much to get the fish on a fly rod, but I ended up buying a Bass Pro Shop. I paid $149 for it, rod and reel, and lines, everything."[26] [27] Followed by the most disciplined sign-off a Tuesday-morning brief can ask for, twenty minutes later on the same repeater: "This is George, Victor Echo 3, Bravo, India, Kilo, signing off. Good night."[28]
Loss Prevention at Target Found a Camera on a Light Pole
15:50 · Amherst PD
The earliest moments of the window opened on this dispatched complaint: "You step out at Target and see the loss prevention there regarding a camera on one of the light poles that they found."[29] No follow-up reached the air. Whether this is corporate-on-corporate surveillance, a vendor's stolen rig, or somebody's clever installation will have to wait for the next edition.
The Wegmans Customer Whose "Concerning Comments" Earned a Chief
17:45 · Amherst PD · Wegmans, 675 Alberta Drive
Patrol dispatched a chief to Wegmans at 17:45 with the request to "stop out at Wegmans, 675 Alberta Drive. Seek Tom and security regarding a customer that's no longer on location who's making some concerning comments."[30] No description, no name, no follow-up — just the on-air half of every grocery-store interview the next manager will ever have.
Tops on Niagara Falls Boulevard: A Black Subaru, a Threat About a Cop Father, and a UPS Store
16:33 · Amherst PD · 3035 Niagara Falls Boulevard at the Tops
A harassment complaint at Tops on Niagara Falls Boulevard at 16:33 was logged at "3035 Niagara Falls Boulevard at the Tops. Complainant's going to be in a black Subaru near the UPS store. It states some female in a vehicle was yelling at her while she was pulling in. Said that her father was a police officer and he was going to come and shoot her."[31] Filed as a harassment complaint by patrol. The cop-father threat appears unverified on the air.
The Bleeding Caller Who Pulled His Own IV and Phoned ASC for Advice
22:53 · Amherst PD · Robin Road apartments
Late-evening's most Western-New-York problem-number-four came through to patrol at 22:53: "Our complainant called ASC asking what to do if blood was spilling out of his arm. ASC advised him to hold pressure. He refused to name the ones hung up and wanted John to call back."[32] The history check turned over within the minute — "he was against medical advice and apparently took an IV out by himself, and that's what he called it"[33] — before patrol cross-referenced the address and walked it through a window with a "very intoxicated" subject who was "pretty educated, kind of easy to cooperate with."
Regional BlotterWNY-wide · brief mentions
04:36 · Buffalo Police Ch.2 (Downtown / West)
Man in a Mask Pulls a Gun Inside Buffalo 7-Eleven
BPD Ch.2 D-W broadcast a stick-up notice at 04:36: "We have a Hispanic male wearing a mask who displayed a gun inside of 7-Eleven."[34] No location specified on the air in the window captured; no on-channel resolution before the AM cutoff.
21:20 · Amherst Fire Dispatch / Williamsville EMS
19-Year-Old Post-Seizure, Labored Breathing on Miles Road
Williamsville EMS was paged to 8130 Miles Road, between Center Lane and Poplar Hill Lane, "19-year-old male, post-seizure, not alert. He has labored breathing."[35] Repeated twice as the channel cleared. No on-air transport disposition.
05:34 · Niagara County Fire Control
Chest Tightness at the Youngstown Barbershop
Niagara County toned an ALS-priority page to Youngstown EMS for a 64-year-old female — "elevated BP, lightheaded, nauseated, chest tightness with a cardiac history"[36] — at the Youngstown Barbershop, 434 Main Street. The address read on the air was "between Lockport Street and Main Street." A barbershop chair predawn-cardiac is a niche subgenre.
Other Calls of Note
- 20:48 · Amherst Fire — Fire alarm activation, 113 Sunrise Boulevard between Sheridan Drive and Frankhauser Road; alarm-company callback returned the cause as "dryer."[37] Holding all units in quarters.[38]
- 03:40 · Amherst Fire — One engine requested cold to a carbon-monoxide incident "needing ventilation."[39] No further detail on the air.
- 23:22 · Buffalo Fire Ch1 — Engine 3-3-4 dispatched to 252 Jewett Avenue.[40]
- 22:54 · Amherst PD — Patrol called for an unknown-trouble entry at 505 Robin Road, Apartment C, with a female inside the apartment "screaming, yelling, crying."[41] Likely same address subgenre as the IV-puller above.