The Buffalo Fire Department is the principal fire and rescue service for the city of Buffalo, New York, USA. It is the largest fire department in Upstate New York. The Fire Department consists of one division which is separated into four battalions, and further separated into four platoons. Each platoon works two day shifts which are from 0800-1700 hrs followed by two night shifts which are from 1700-0800 hrs.
The department consists of approximately 675 uniformed firefighters that serve a population of about 260,000 in a geographic area of approximately 42 square miles (110 km2).
The department operates one Division Chief, four Battalion Chiefs, 19 Engine Companies, 9 Ladder Companies, 1 Heavy Rescue, 1 Collapse/Technical Rescue, 1 HazMat/Command Unit and 1 Fireboat. Buffalo on average battles three structure fires a day. Residential structures are typically wooden balloon style framed buildings (Type V) with a high percentage of these abandoned. Run statistics show a total of over 35,000 incident responses per year. The department traces its roots to the early bucket brigades, which provided fire services from the early inception of the village of Buffalo in the early 19th century until the creation of the paid department on July 1, 1880.
Read more about Buffalo Fire Department: History, Operations, Fire Station Locations and Apparatus, Buffalo Fire Department and Erie County Emergency Services Units Radio Callsigns, Buffalo Fire Department Radio Operations, Fallen Buffalo Firefighters
Famous quotes containing the words fire department, buffalo, fire and/or department:
“In England if something goes wrong—say, if one finds a skunk in the garden—he writes to the family solicitor, who proceeds to take the proper measures; whereas in America, you telephone the fire department. Each satisfies a characteristic need; in the English, love of order and legalistic procedure; and here in America, what you like is something vivid, and red, and swift.”
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947)
“As I started with her out of the city warmly enveloped in buffalo furs, I could not but think how nice it would be to drive on and on, so that nobody should ever catch us.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“When there was no more lantern in the kitchen,
The fire got out through crannies in the stove
And danced in yellow wrigglers on the ceiling,
As much at home as if they’d always danced there.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“All his works might well enough be embraced under the title of one of them, a good specimen brick, “On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History.” Of this department he is the Chief Professor in the World’s University, and even leaves Plutarch behind.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)