Lancaster · Court Street · Structure Fire

Flames and Smoke Showing at the Lancaster Knives Building on Court Street

Lancaster fire found fire showing at the Lancaster Knives building, set up command and worked it to an all-clear with thermal cameras.

Yesterday at 4:52 PM, Lancaster fire was dispatched to a structure fire at 165 Court Street, the Lancaster Knives building, with flames and smoke showing on arrival as units responded.

Command was established on channel 2 with operations moved to channel 3 — the sign of a working incident being run rather than a quick knockdown. By 5:11 PM crews had swept the building with thermal cameras and put the call all clear.

Cheektowaga · Walden Avenue · Pedestrian Struck

Pedestrian Struck by a Gray Van on Walden Avenue, Left Unable to Move

A man was reported down and unable to move after being hit by a gray van near Walden and Randolph, with AMR called for a leg injury.

Yesterday at 5:42 PM, Cheektowaga police put out a pedestrian struck by a gray van in the area of 951 Walden Avenue, near Randolph. The victim was reported on the ground and unable to move, with AMR requested for a leg injury.

Dispatch relayed a plate for the striking van as units converged on the scene. No further word on the man's condition crossed the air before the call cleared.

Amherst · Sweet Home Road · Missing Child Search

Pre-Dawn Search for a Child Reported Walking Alone Toward UB Campus Turns Up Nothing

A passerby reported a young girl in a pink raincoat walking up Ranch Road toward the university before 3:30 AM; a campus area check came back negative.

Early this morning, at 3:30 AM, University at Buffalo campus police sent a unit to the area of Sweet Home Road and Ranch Road after a passerby reported what looked like a young girl walking alone. The caller described her as “a female with a pink raincoat, maybe a flashlight and a white backpack, possibly Asian”, headed up Ranch Road toward the university.

Units checked in and swept the area over the following minutes. By 3:38 AM the responding officer reported the area check negative — no child located — as the call moved off the air.

Hamburg · South Creek · Lost Hiker

Woman Lost in the South Creek Woods, Phone at 1 Percent, Found Safe After Drone Search

Hamburg fire launched a drone and pushed crews deep south of South Creek after losing contact with a woman whose phone was nearly dead.

Yesterday at 3:49 PM, Hamburg fire dispatch reported it had lost contact with a woman lost in the woods well south of 2815 South Creek Road — her phone down to 1 percent when the line dropped. Dispatch sent her last coordinates and location photo to a firefighter as Hamburg 9 and 92 responded, and by 3:52 PM Hamburg 72 was airborne with the drone.

Crews worked with almost nothing to go on. As one dispatcher noted, “we're not sure if she's alone, we have no description or anything” — she had lost the power of her voice as well as her phone. Operations were moved to a tactical channel, and by 4:31 PM the hiker had been located and was being walked back to her vehicle, with all Hamburg units returning to service.

Amherst · Bailey Avenue · Recovery Operation

Amherst Police Rush a Possible Excited-Delirium Call Near Bailey Avenue

An officer asked Twin City to expedite for what he wasn't sure was excited delirium, with a subject named on dispatch and a recovery run set up back to headquarters.

Yesterday afternoon, starting about 3:40 PM, Amherst police worked a fast-moving call in the Bailey Avenue area, with an officer asking that Twin City ambulance expedite because, as he put it, “I don't know if this is an excited delirium or not”. Dispatch was asked to run history for a person identified on the air as Meredith Armstrong at the address, and crisis services were mentioned as multiple cars marked responding.

By 3:49 PM the incident had shifted into an administrative recovery run: an officer asked for a patrol to meet him at 3990 Bailey Avenue to start a recovery vehicle back to headquarters. No detail on the subject's condition crossed the air before the call moved off the channel.

Buffalo · Alma Street · Threat With Firearm

Man Accused of Threatening a Neighbor With a Handgun on Alma Street

Buffalo police took an aggravated-assault report from Alma Street where a man was said to have threatened a neighbor with a handgun about an hour earlier.

Yesterday at 4:56 PM, Buffalo police were dispatched to 45 Alma Street for an aggravated assault with threats involving a firearm — a man reported to have threatened a neighbor with a handgun.

Dispatch relayed that the confrontation had occurred roughly an hour before the call came in, meaning officers were responding to a report after the fact rather than an active scene. No further word on an arrest crossed the air before the call cleared.

Overheard · Sweet-Toothed Getaway

Candy Man: Dollar Tree Bandit Bolts With 50 Bags of Sweets

An Amherst shoplifter made off with an armful of confectionery and vanished on foot toward Tops before the first car could catch him.

Yesterday at 4:00 PM, Amherst dispatch put out a shoplifting that had just happened at the Dollar Tree at 3500 Main Street, where, as the dispatcher relayed, a male “left with 50 bags of candy”. Fifty. Bags.

The lookout went out for a tall, thin man in a red shirt and black pants, last seen carrying a blue-and-yellow reusable bag and heading off on foot toward Tops. An officer who happened to be nearby when the call dropped reported he never saw a soul — the candy man had melted away.

Overheard · Purr-Blocking Traffic

One Cat, One Roadway, One SPCA Callout

A cat parked itself in an Amherst road — alive, moving, and entirely uninjured — and still managed to generate its own dispatch traffic.

Yesterday at around 4:33 PM, Amherst officers turned their attention to a cat in the roadway — reported, per dispatch, alive, moving, and with no obvious injuries. An SPCA contact was requested for the four-legged obstruction.

It is the rare call where the subject is in perfect health and the only real emergency is the traffic behind it. The cat, for its part, made no statement.

Overheard · Dinner Is Served

Sibling Squabble Ends With a Flying Plate to the Forehead

A medic radioed in a hairline wound courtesy of a plate hurled across the room by a brother or sister.

Yesterday at 6:19 PM, a medic called ahead with a wound to the forehead and hairline, caused, as the crew put it, by “a plate that was thrown across the room by a sibling”. Sibling relations, it seems, had reached the tableware stage.

The good news: vitals were stable and the patient was awake, with the crew reporting two minutes to the back door. The plate's condition was not entered into the record.

Overheard · Bangs and Whimpers

Reported .22 Rifle Fire on Ward Street Turns Out to Be Firecrackers

A Salamanca caller was sure he heard a rifle; officers found kids scattering after lighting off a fistful of firecrackers.

Yesterday at 9:40 PM, Salamanca police sent a car toward Ward Street after a caller up on Crawford reported what he believed was somebody shooting a .22 rifle. Moments later the same caller phoned back to say he now heard yelling — what sounded like kids telling each other to “get in the house before they get in trouble” — and thought it might have been firecrackers after all.

The instinct proved right. By 9:44 PM units cleared, having spoken with a few people on Ward who admitted they had been throwing a bunch of firecrackers, and were advised to knock it off.

Overheard · Wrong Ride

Repo Crew May Have Hauled Off the Wrong Car in Gowanda

A Walnut Street caller told Cattaraugus deputies a repossession company might have taken his vehicle by mistake.

Yesterday at 9:11 PM, Cattaraugus deputies took a call from Walnut Street in Gowanda from a man who suspected a repossession company had grabbed the wrong car — his — off the property.

It is the sort of paperwork mix-up that ends with someone very confused about where they parked and someone else with an awkward phone call to make. Deputies took the report.

Tonawanda · Medical Call

Tonawanda Man Reports Breathing Trouble Amid Lengthy Medical History

Yesterday at 3:56 PM, Tonawanda Police Dispatch sent a unit on a hot response — an emergency, lights-and-siren run — to 504 Thorncliffe for a patient having trouble breathing and described as clammy, with dispatchers noting the man had “a crazy history”.

The dispatcher repeated the call word-for-word moments later, a sign of the urgency; no outcome was broadcast afterward.

Buffalo · Large Fight

Buffalo Police Send String of Units to Break Up Large Fight

Yesterday at 6:12 PM, Buffalo Police District A radioed that officers were needed to disperse a large fight at a location described on the air as “West Seneca Indian Church”. A quick succession of patrol units — 11 and 13, then Adam 432, then 422 and 31, and finally 12 and 80 — were sent to assist.

Minutes later, as dispatchers asked whether any additional cars could respond, one noted “not many people out here”, suggesting the crowd had begun to scatter before more officers arrived.

Buffalo · Missing Person

Search Launched for Missing 15-Year-Old Near Grant Street

Yesterday at 4:33 PM, Buffalo police radioed a unit to take a missing-person report near Grant Street, describing the missing 15-year-old as a light-skinned male with short brown hair, last seen wearing a red hoodie, a red shirt and checkered pants, and noting he takes a bus to school.

No further description or resolution was broadcast in the minutes that followed.

Buffalo · Tree & Fence Fire

Backyard Tree and Fence Fire Draws Multi-Unit Buffalo Fire Response on Kensington

Yesterday at 3:18 PM, Buffalo Fire Dispatch sent Engine 34, Engine 21, Ladder 6 and Battalion 47 to 300 Kensington Avenue, between Pauline Street and Fillmore Avenue, on a report of a tree and a fence on fire. A supervisor called for additional equipment five minutes later, but a unit on scene reported “we have a tree on fire in somebody's backyard, only extension is going to be some plastic on a fence” and downgraded the response to one engine and one ladder company.

One company also circled back to check an illegally parked vehicle near the scene, folding in its mirror but confirming no damage, before returning to service.

Lancaster · Medical Call

Confused Nursing-Home Resident Found Injured Behind Guardrail on Broadway

Yesterday at 4:13 PM, Lancaster Fire Dispatch reported an elderly man, confused and having wandered away from a nearby nursing home, found on the ground behind the guardrail in front of Trinity Veterinarian Hospital on Broadway, with an elbow injury.

Dispatchers described the injury as an elbow laceration with additional injuries unknown, and the call was cleared at 4:40 PM.

Hamburg · CPS Custody

CPS Takes Custody of Infant Boy at Hamburg Motel 6

Yesterday at 3:10 PM, Hamburg police dispatch sent an officer to meet Child Protective Services at the Motel 6, room 133, where the two agencies were set to “take custody of a one-month-old male”. Dispatch noted the responding unit would be waiting out front in a Chevy Traverse.

Little Valley · Domestic Incident

Little Valley Domestic Call: Man Accused of Blocking Woman From Leaving Walnut Street Home

Yesterday just before 11:30 PM, Cattaraugus County Sheriff's dispatch sent a Little Valley unit to 29 Walnut Street for a domestic incident in which dispatchers said “the male party is not allowing the female to leave”.