The WNY Listening Post

Western New York’s Scanner-Fed Tabloid

Amherst · Sheridan Drive retail strip

Three mulch fires march east down Sheridan Drive in half an hour

Bob's Discount, a 4-0 store, and a Five Below all catch light in sequence — smokers, most likely

At 15:35, Amherst Fire dispatched on a mulch fire in front of 3058 Sheridan Drive[*], at Bob's Discount Furniture between Niagara Falls Boulevard and Delta Road. Crews handled it, went back in service — and within the same hour dispatch called the same crew across the strip twice more.

At 16:00, Amherst Fire reported “there's another one at 4-0, can you come this way,” then at 16:00:26 added “there's another mulch fire in front of 5 Below. We're going to stop for now.” By 16:08 the units were back in service. No structures involved; the fires were in landscaping beds against retail building exteriors, the standard signature of a discarded cigarette hitting dry summer mulch.

Amherst Fire had already been running a mulch-fire pattern earlier in the week; today's three in thirty minutes is a nine-day heat-wave signature, not arson.

Around the NeighborhoodThe Northtowns, call by call

Amherst · Colonial Road (Holland mutual aid)

RESOLVED

Twenty parts per million of carbon monoxide at a Holland home, mid-holiday-weekend heat

Just after midnight, an Amherst Fire dispatcher reported “about 20 parts per million in the house — we'll be able to ventilate” at 10 Colonial Road, on a carbon-monoxide call in Holland Center that pulled a cold engine as mutual aid. The reading is enough to trigger a headache and eventually nausea; 70 ppm is the OSHA action threshold. No injuries reported.

Amherst · Allenhurst Road

RESOLVED

Second EMS run of the night at Oxford Village Townhomes: 31-year-old, 33 weeks pregnant, contractions

At 00:14, Amherst Fire dispatched Ellicott Creek 502 to 472 Allenhurst Road — the Oxford Village Townhomes off Yale Avenue[*] [heard: Knackford Avenue and Yale Avenue] — for what dispatch flagged as a second EMS call of the night at the address. Two minutes later Amherst PD came up on the same channel with the actual detail: “31-year-old female, 33 weeks pregnant, having contractions.” Both units cleared the run without transport drama noted on the air.


Overheard: The WiresCops, cabbies, custodians, dispatchers — off-script

BNIA · Delta Ramp, 06:17

“Checking seats — I'm missing two”: a Delta ramp agent counts passengers at dawn and comes up short

At 06:17 the Delta ramp agent at BNIA came up on the ramp channel with the earliest-of-mornings problem: “Checking seats, I'm missing two.” Two passengers, either overslept at the gate, still in the terminal Starbucks, or long gone. Nobody replied on the recording. The plane presumably left with two empty seats and two Buffalo hotel rooms billing a no-show fee.

BNIA · United Ramp, 06:24

“I'm a flight attendant, Al” — the second job at United comes on the ramp radio

Seven minutes after the Delta ramp lost two passengers, over on the United ramp: “Take my last day's pleasant, please. Where you going? Up out of here. I'm a flight attendant, Al. You can do both. What'd you say? You can work both. Yeah, we need all the money we can get — that's why I got you for.” Two employees, one on the ramp, one clearly headed inside to work a cabin, comparing shift totals on an open channel. The economy of a small-city airport in one exchange.

Buffalo · BroadwayTaxi, 01:00

Tennessee is back on the line at Broadway Taxi, and dispatch has had enough

One a.m. at Broadway Taxi dispatch, over the radio, weary: “It's Tennessee back on my line again. Do I have anybody to move it?” A regular caller identified by a state name — presumably a fare, possibly a driver, most likely a name — has hit the queue for the second time on this shift, and dispatch wants to hand them off to somebody, anybody. The plaintive delivery is the story.

Amherst · Robin Road, 17:32

A red-haired, bearded, white-t-shirted man is causing a landlord problem at 828 Robin Road, Apartment D

The Amherst PD dispatcher at 17:32 read out a call from 828 Robin Road, Apartment D as in David in the voice of someone reading a novel to a very slow reader: “They'll be looking for a white male, he's got red hair, beard, and he's wearing a white t-shirt. The next girl is going to move from the apartment, she's been staying there on and off.” Half a police call, half a domestic drama synopsis. Perfect afternoon radio.

Amherst · Sheridan Drive, 17:34

“Very, very, very, very, very small — put out by a size 9 and a bucket of water”

The perfect Amherst Fire mulch-fire dispositional radio call

The five o'clock Amherst Fire disposition from Williamsville 9-1 (Williamsville Fire), on a small brush or mulch outbreak: “It was a very, very, very, very, very small patch, put out by a size 9 and a bucket of water.” One shoe, one bucket, and radio deadpan enough to run on TV.


Regional BlotterBeyond the Northtowns — WNY at large

Buffalo · Tonawanda Street

RESOLVED

“We had an air fryer on fire — we took it out of the structure”: BFD finds a real appliance fire behind three false-alarm runs at People Inc.

At 18:16 Buffalo Fire dispatched a Liminary-signal level-2 response — Engine 38, Engine 37, Ladder 2 — to 395 Tonawanda Street (the People Inc. building between Austin and Farmer) for a commercial fire alarm off the second floor. Crews knocked on the door and got the classic response the on-air dispatcher relayed: “Person inside insisted they didn't call.”

Six minutes later the disposition came in and cleared the confusion: “Yeah, we had an air fryer on fire. We took it out of the structure right now.” The same head kept re-triggering — BFD Ch1 got the same address at 01:28 and again at 03:42 through the overnight before the head reset.

Wyoming County · Perry / Castile

RESOLVED

Structure fire, house filled with smoke, 4415 Middle Reservation Road — Perry, Silver Spring, Mount Morris, Castile all rolled

Wyoming County Fire dispatch put out a structure-fire call at 17:18 for 4415 Middle Reservation Road, between Kennedy Road and Castile Center Road, described as a house filled with smoke. Perry 3 and 4, Silver Spring 2, Lester 1, 3 and 4, and Mount Morris 4 and 6 all rolled. Perry Command established water within a few minutes and the run wound down through 17:37 with no injuries broadcast.

Other Calls of Note

[15:07]Niagara County · Youngstown Niagara County FD called Lewiston (Williston 1) for mutual-aid ambulance to a Youngstown motor-vehicle accident at Creek Road and Lake Road.
[01:44]Buffalo · East Side · McDonald's, 262 Grider Engine 33 EMS on a man down outside the McDonald's at 262 Grider between North and East Delavan; reported to be on the sidewalk.
[02:04]Buffalo · Jefferson Avenue Engine 21, Ladder 6 and EMS to a motor vehicle accident on Jefferson Avenue near Abess; no injuries broadcast, on location by 02:10.
[15:24]Amherst · Southwedge Drive Amherst Fire EMS at 35 Southwedge Drive[*], near Monroe Drive; 96-year-old male, trouble breathing.
[22:00]Lake Ontario · Sodus Bay The Prescott (ON) Coast Guard marine broadcast looped Sodus Bay / Port Hope / Ontario fireworks-display safety-zone coordinates almost continuously from 19:23 to 02:27 — the biggest single share of overnight airtime by a wide margin.

Editor’s Note

The pre-holiday shift picked up where yesterday's PM edition left off — heat, small fires, and the Coast Guard's marine broadcaster reading Sodus Bay fireworks safety-zone coordinates on a loop for eight straight hours. Amherst Fire had a peculiar 30-minute window in the four o'clock hour when three separate mulch fires walked across the Sheridan Drive retail strip in sequence — Bob's Discount, a 4-0 store, and a Five Below — before crews stood down. Buffalo Fire caught a genuine air fryer fire hiding inside a repeatedly-mis-triggering commercial alarm at People Inc. on Tonawanda Street, and Amherst dispatched a Holland-bound engine at midnight to ventilate a house pulling 20 parts per million of carbon monoxide.

Daily Gem

It was a very, very, very, very, very small patch, put out by a size 9 and a bucket of water”

— Amherst Fire, 17:34

By the Numbers

Segments
2,981
Active systems
29
Busiest hour
22:00–23:00 (Marine 21 Sodus Bay fireworks safety-zone loop)
Regional Breaking
0
Updates
0
By Agency (top 5)
BucketSegs
Police720
Fire / EMS585
Rail / maritime985
Airport / aviation129
Hotel / shuttle / taxi141
By Area (top 5)
BucketSegs
Williamsville & Amherst961
Buffalo217
Cheektowaga / Lancaster / Depew168
Niagara County95
Other Erie County313

Agency & area buckets are estimated from channel-to-role mappings; Maritime Ops (947 segments) is a Coast Guard marine-broadcast loop, not incident traffic.

[*] = a name the scanner audio left uncertain and could not be confirmed against an official source; treat as unverified. Routine street-name fixes against official municipal lists are applied silently.
The WNY Listening Post · Thursday, July 2, 2026 · A.M. Edition · Vol. I, No. 54
Compiled from public radio scanner traffic via the WNY Listening Post automated pipeline. Transcriptions are AI-generated and may contain errors; verify names and details before action.