The WNY Listening Post

17-Year-Old Strikes His Head at Smallwood Elementary, Norfolk Drive Near Lakewood — Amherst Fire Dispatch Sends AMS in After 10:30 p.m.

A late-Saturday medical at the elementary school, with the call left ambiguous on the air — teen down on school property, no further detail offered to dispatch.

22:36 · Amherst Fire Dis

Amherst Fire Dispatch put a medical out at 300 Smallwood Drive at the Smallwood Elementary School, between Norfolk Drive and Lakewood Parkway, for a 17-year-old male who “struck his head on…” — the dispatcher trailed off mid-sentence and the call cleared without further detail.^[1] The school's address sits two minutes off Maple, well inside Amherst’s village-adjacent residential ring. A unit acknowledged from the north end of the building roughly ninety seconds later.^[2]

Chest Pains at Autumn Creek Apartments, Swormville — 43-Year-Old Male, Cardiac History, ALS Out the Door at 4:08 a.m.

04:07–04:08 · Amherst Fire Dis

Clarence Center EMS was paged at 105 Autumn Creek Lane, the Autumn Creek Apartments, Unit E as in Edward — 43-year-old male, history of heart problems, experiencing chest pain.^[3] The dispatcher repeated the location and unit a minute later for the responding rig, locating the complex in Swormville off Transit.^[4]

Hold-Up Alarm at the AT&T Store, 8200 Transit Road — Amherst PD: “Coming From the Manager’s Office”

17:27 · Amherst PD

A late-afternoon Amherst PD transmission flagged a hold-up alarm activation at the AT&T store, 8200 Transit Road, with the unit noting the trip was “coming from the manager’s office.”^[5] The transmission was short, no escalation followed on the channel, and the unit cleared without follow-up traffic that suggested an actual robbery; the most likely read is an inadvertent panic-button activation handled on-scene.

Two-Vehicle MVA, Dodge Road at Millersport Highway — Amherst Fire Dispatch Toned Out at Mid-Afternoon

15:24 · Amherst Fire Dis

Two cars tangled at Dodge Road and Millersport Highway, with Amherst Fire Dispatch confirming “motor vehicle accident… two vehicles involved.”^[6] A unit was responding from Dodge/Millersport at 15:32 and the call closed quietly.^[7]

Dryer-Vent Fire, 1–2 Lakeside Drive Off Hopkins — “A Burning Odor and a Crackling Sound”

15:29–16:12 · Amherst Fire Dis

An Amherst homeowner near Hopkins & Dutch Mill called in “a burning odor and crackling” from her dryer; Amherst Fire Dispatch pushed a possible dryer-vent fire to 1–2 Lakeside Drive between Hopkins Road and Dutch Mill Lane at 15:30.^[8] The damage tally came back forty-two minutes later: contained to the dryer, $800 in damage.^[9]

Underage Drinkers Take Over the Pavilion at the Harlem Road Community Center — Amherst PD After 1 a.m.

01:11 · Amherst PD

An Amherst PD officer aired what the complaint amounted to overnight: “Activity at the Harlem Road Community Center, 4255 Harlem Road, for the 4-to-25 youth that are drinking alcohol in the pavilion.”^[10] A name and date of birth went on the air four minutes later (DOB 11-21-04), suggesting at least one of them was identified on scene rather than scattering.^[11]

Fire Alarm at the Group Home, 509 Dodge Road, Getzville — Common-Area Smoke Detector, Accidental Trip

18:43–18:50 · Amherst Fire Dis

Amherst Fire Dispatch sent the box to 509 Dodge Road, the community group home in Getzville, between Robin Ridge Road and Center Road — reported as common-area smoke detector with waterflow lines, full-station response.^[12] Crews on scene at 18:48 cleared it as an accidental trip and naturally ventilated the area before the reset.^[13]

“Hello, This Is John Lennon.” — BPD Channel 3, 9:14 p.m., Caller Identifies Self to Buffalo Dispatcher

Buffalo Police Channel 3 carried a thirteen-second exchange in which a male voice opened with, “Hello, this is John Lennon. John Lennon.”^[14] The dispatcher did not engage further on the air. The conversation moved on; the caller, by all available evidence, did not.

Cheektowaga PD Has a Female Walking Walden in “a White Tank Top, No Bottles, No Shoes, No Blackmail”

At 9:49 p.m. on Walden, a Cheektowaga unit described his subject for the air: white female, white tank top, “no bottles, no shoes, no blackmail.”^[15] Translated into the language of clothes-not-bottles, this is a barefoot, pantsless, unblanketed individual eastbound on Walden — a description that says everything you need to know about how the call was going to land.

“This Is Jeff O’Farrill, You Can Chat With Me on My Podcast.” — Caller Plugs Show on BPD Channel 3

At 11:31 p.m. an apparent caller into the Buffalo Police 911 floor announced, “Hello, this is Jeff O’Farrill, you can chat with me on my podcast.”^[16] Whether the audio caught a misdirected pocket-dial from a content creator or a working radio bleeding a streamed feed across the trunk is unclear; either way, it’s the second unsolicited self-introduction Channel 3 fielded between sunset and midnight.

Cheektowaga PD, 11:28 p.m.: “A Male Laying in the Middle of the Street After He Was Chasing a Vehicle While It Was Moving.”

Cheektowaga PD got a complaint that did most of the editorial work for them: “The complaint is saying that there was a male laying in the middle of the street after he was chasing a vehicle while it was moving.”^[17] The caller declined to speculate further; the chronology, however, is suggestive.

Embassy Suites Engineering, 7:40 p.m.: “Number 6 Is Making Funny Noises Between Floors 9 and 10.”

The Embassy Control trunk picked up an elevator complaint with a poet’s ear: “Number 6 is making funny noises between floors 9 and 10. We might need a rotating shuttle to go.”^[18] The remedy was the most Embassy answer possible: rotate the freight, ignore the noise, wait until morning.

American Airlines Ramp, 6:06 a.m., Counts Heads, Comes Up Empty: “I’m Missing 10 People”

On the American ramp around dawn, a supervisor and a ramp lead arrived at the same arithmetic from opposite directions. “How many people did you say you’re missing?” “I’m missing 10 people.” “How are you missing 10? Maybe you should make another announcement.” “Thank you. I just made another announcement.”^[19]

TPS BNIA Shuttle, 4:11 a.m., to No One in Particular: “Can I Have a Box of Chocolates?”

A pre-dawn TPS van driver opened the radio for a single line of unexplained confection-procurement — “Can I have a box of chocolates?” — before pivoting two seconds later to a complaint about “stupid guys, or stupiders.”^[20] Forrest Gump, of course, was right there with him.

Buffalo Fire Dispatches a Hazmat Unit to a Natural-Gas Odor at 65 Chicago Street — Callsign: “Cobra 232”

At 2:16 a.m. BFD pulled an alarm-level-2 response to investigate an odor of natural gas at 65 Chicago Street, between Mackinaw and Hartman; the responding hazmat unit cleared the air over the trunk as “Cobra 232.”^[21] Buffalo Fire has, in fact, a Cobra unit; some nights, that’s the most evocative sentence on the wires.

Depew PD, 8:59 p.m.: Teenagers Running the Lot at Green Acres, Allegedly “Being Rude to Other People”

Depew PD got the most polite escalation of the night out of 137 Broadway at Green Acres, where a caller reported teens running around the parking lot “with workers and employees and being rude to other people.”^[22] Rudeness, as a chargeable offense, is famously hard to prove.

TPS Shuttle Bay, 10:40 p.m.: “Whoever Was Just Talking, Your Microphone Sounds Awful.”

A TPS BNIA Shuttle driver delivered the only review that mattered: “Whoever was just talking, your microphone sounds awful.”^[23] No reply was offered; the offending mic, presumably, was carried into another conversation untreated.

Heavy Flames From a Second-Story Window on Kuma Road — Niagara County Fire Control Pushes the Box to D-TAC-3

19:46 · NC FD Dispatch

Niagara County Fire Control dispatched fire investigation and a full assignment to 3244 Kuma Road, between J. Gleason and McLeod, with the on-air confirmation reading: “House fire, heavy flame scene, patrol on location, [flames] from the second story window. Incident’s going to be on us, D-TAC-3.”^[24] Traffic on the dispatch trunk went quiet for over twenty minutes afterward, suggesting operations moved to the tactical channel as expected.

Male Victim of Assault at the Delta Sonic, 1264 Main Street — Buffalo Fire EMS After 4:30 a.m.

04:31 · BFD Ch1 Disp

Buffalo Fire Dispatch toned EMS for “a report of a male victim of assault” at 1264 Main Street, the Delta Sonic, between Northampton and Bryant.^[25] No follow-up traffic from the responding unit aired on Channel 1 before dawn.

Kitchen Outlet Warm and Sparking at 81 Montfort Drive, Cheektowaga — CFD Toned Out After 10 p.m.

22:22 · CFD Disp

Cheektowaga Fire dispatched a crew to investigate a kitchen outlet that was warm and sparking at 81 Montfort Drive, east side between Ridley and the cross street that clipped the transmission.^[26] Equipment Hill was directed to investigate the electrical sockets specifically.^[27]

Tree Down in Brook Gardens, 123 East Canyon Between High Ridge and Waterview — Hamburg Fire Just After 9 p.m.

20:59–21:00 · T-Hamburg FD Dsp

Hamburg Fire Dispatch paged crews to a sizable tree-down at 123 East Canyon in Brook Gardens, between High Ridge and Waterview.^[28] The repeat went out a minute later with the same coordinates.^[29]

Secondary Accident on the Thruway at Mile 428 — Vehicle Left Shoulder Into the Guide Rail, NYSP Rolling

23:20 · NYSTA Ch 4

State Police Troop T put a unit on a secondary accident around mile marker 428 over four lanes — vehicle gone left shoulder into the guide rail; the involved party was not responding to communications when the unit was dispatched.^[30] The vehicle was identified as a Lincoln-S-F-6-3-1-4 a few minutes later.^[31]