Buffalo's firefighting fleet is a mess
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- Опубліковано 24 січ 2023
- This story aired Jan. 25, 2023 on WGRZ. Mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council have failed to invest in new vehicles as they've aged out. The result is a ramshackle fleet. Some trucks can't even pump water or generate fire-fighting foam.
Read Geoff Kelly's reporting here:
www.investigativepost.org/202...
This needs to go viral, it's not just this city. It's City and County all over the US
Over here in Europe, to cut costs and build time, fire engines are build on top of already avaliable reliable commercial chassis, like Mercedes or Volvo trucks. Maintenance is easier and cheaper too, as it's all standard truck components.
And I think the fire engine bit that goes on the chassis is fairly standard, so the company converting them is making small batches of identical vehicles not bespoke one-offs.
@@dom1310df Wrong, at least in my experience. The truck bodies are very customizable (compartments, ladder racks, hose beds and MANY other things).
Using a commercial chassis is commonly done.
interesting story. confusing why commissioner Renaldo will not advocate for his own department. And of course the police dept isnt having any trouble getting new vehicles.
Probably because the police commissioner, as most in the US wont accept driving around beat up nonworthy vehicles. Civil service should have the best in order to have zero excuse to provide service.
This FD commissioner is getting some kind of backing for destroying his dept, it makes no sense
@@rpereira7735 the trucks need better maintenance and they'd last 15-20 years or more
@X Zxxx That is simply not true if they are engines running in a major city responding to thousands of calls a year. Its why if you buy a brand new car and in 2 years put 200K on it, it will very likely not make it another 4 or 6, much less 10 years. These vehicles are driven hard and are pushed to their limits almost on a daily basis
@@rpereira7735 that’s BS. I’m a heavy duty mechanic for a fleet of railroad trucks and equipment. Our units operate 24 hours per day 7 days a week. No time sitting around at a station between calls. Our vehicles have tens of thousands of operating hours by the time they’re 10 years in (roughly 10x what these fire trucks have). Maintenance is absolutely the key.
@@rpereira7735 Not true. My hometown volunteer department has vehicles from the late 70s still in running shape used for wildland and brush fire operations. One was a prior military truck, and it gets sent into areas some trucks can't go. Good maintenance will keep a truck running for a surprising amount of time.
I know the firefighters do their best to maintain their equipment and their fire houses but the city budget probably needs to be audited to find out where the money that should be allocated for new equipment and maintenance of existing equipment be checked for embezzlement because someone somewhere is pocketing money and I bet it starts at the city council constantly giving themselves raises.
In Europe all fire trucks (with a few specialist exceptions) are built on commercial chassis. The most common being Scania (used worldwide) followed by Mercedes and Volvo. After that there are MAN and DAF. Appliances that are used wholetime usually have an operational life of 10-12 years depending on mileage, condition and pumping hours. Retained/volunteer appliances which have a lower call out rate obviously stay on the run longer usually for 15 plus years. Aerials/ TL's are regularly remounted on new chassis. As long as the rig is well maintained they can last easily up to 25 years.
Yes this is buffalo so there not unfortunately
The commish will probably get new rigs as soon as he can find a manufacturer that will give him a nice juicy kickback. That would be my guess.
In General rust belt cities like buffalo don't have large budget. Still fire and ambulance should be the number one priority.
I live in central texas, our city replaces engines every 6-8 years, ladder trucks every 8-10. But then again fire budget is like 300 million a year. We have like 60 engines 30 trucks, 10 platforms, 8 squad s and 2 heavy rescues.
Time to get these Buffalo firefighters more modern updated Engines and Ladders. They handle many calls for help and is an important investment for the city.
im sure that union prez makes what 5 firefighters make in a year. along with his secretary under the desk
Sounds alot like the new Zealand firecrisis faulty trucks old equipment and poor station conditions #firecrisis this will give you more info
If you have American LaFrance trucks running as frontline apparatus than the city needs to replace them asap.
Today 3-1-2023 a Buffalo Ny firefighter was killed at a 4 alarm fire on Main St
This is sad, one of the volunteer fire departments near me has better trucks then the Buffalo Fire Department does, and the volunteer fire department has maybe 10 men and women.
How are vehicles in the US supposed to be only 10 years in service? In Europe the trucks are there like 20 years or longer and afterwards shipped to lower developed countries to serve their last lifetime there or to be sold as a camper RV to people
It ran completely differently. Fires are completely. It's a different world honestly
You can't compare the Medium age. Europe has way more volunteere Departments with just a few calls per year. My home Village FD has around 30 to 50 calls a year so a 20 to 30 year lifespan of an Engine, if well maintained, is not out of the ordinary. On the other hand an Enigne with the FD of a bigger City (which are most likely full proffesional Departments) runs 1500+ calls a year. So after 10 years it has been on 15.000 calls, of course it's worn out faster than an Engine that runs 300 to 500 calls in the same time frame. Most professional Departments, including mine, are replacing their firetrucks every 5 to 10 years. Most of them are handed down to volunteere Departements for a cheap price.
So 10 to 15 years is quiet old for a firetruck in a Major City like Buffalo. These rigs were on 20.000+ calls by the time they reach that age.
You would not find average 10 yo vehicles in proffesional fire departments in the big cities in Europe. In volunteer departments, yes.
Commissioner sounds like he’s trying to save his ass for the lack of work that should be done.
Crying in the bread line with a Virginia ham under their arms.
Can you believe the union rep or the equipment suppliers?
Taking credit for your predecessor's decisions is a common political move. And the fire commissioner sounds like a political appointee.
Just your typical mismanagement but the council won't remove the person responsible, the fire commissioner.
This shud not happen, at all!!! And it puts everyone at risk, and you can not put a price tag on safty
and yet Buffalo is going to tear down the waterfront condos, and build new ones, for 612 families, for a cost of $400 million! Cant anyone do math? that is $650,000 EACH.
i wish someone would build me a $650,000 home FOR FREE!
You voted for it you deal with it
Many UK and European Union trucks coming out of service are now being donated to Ukraine. They need all the help they can get.
Pump failures can be attributed to user error or poor training
Or poor maintenance
@@jor7137 as we know the is doesn't believe in maintenance for anything
Ok? And? They have the money to buy new stuff.
Obviously the issue is they arnt buying new trucks…come on now😂😂😂
Meanwhile rural dept's are running their "new" front-line 20 year old apparatus 😂 and the 30 year old stuff is still their favorite truck to pump...
10 year old apparatus falling apart to the point of a seat missing? Sounds like a maintenance issue and People not doing truck checks to let apparatus get that far in disrepair.
60,000+ calls per year versus 1000….sure.
This is a little ignorant tbh. You're kinda missing a few things. This comes from nobody with experience, just knowing people who do both.
So - the union wants the city to spend money it doesn’t have, from a tax base that is shrinking.
They have covid money
Classic politics
Capitalism working as intended.
Let infrastructure rot while giving developers and corporations run of the town.
Let me guess,,,,,Democrat run city
this is standard in the Uk , to many cuts
Fireman are such crybabies seriously every department everywhere crybabies. You got it made! Sitting around all day cooking, quit if you hate it so much