Buffalo Common Council looks into establishing city’s own ambulance services

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Buffalo Common Council President Christopher Scanlon has introduced a resolution to explore establishing a City of Buffalo ambulance service.

The resolution comes in response to several ongoing concerns about how the city’s current emergency medical services, American Medical Response (AMR), operates.

“Whether it’s the current provider or the previous provider of ambulance services for the City of Buffalo, there have been concerns or complaints from time to time about response times and other things,” Scanlon said. “This has picked up again in the last couple of weeks. We’re hearing a number of complaints all across the city.”

WIVB News 4 spoke with Buffalo Common Council Member Mitch Nowakowski last week, who said he wrote a letter to AMR expressing concerns about response times after he received several complaints from residents and businesses.

All of these factors are what led Scanlon to propose a feasibility study of Buffalo establishing its own ambulance services.

“As an elected official, the thing I start every day thinking about when talking about things with my colleagues is the safety and the wellbeing of the residents of the City of Buffalo,” Scanlon said. “That is paramount to me. If you’re not making sure people are healthy, making sure people are safe, nothing else really matters.”

The proposal is in its early stages and there are still aspects that need to be figured out.

The biggest question is, how exactly would a city-run ambulance service be paid for?

The common council is simultaneously working to address for $40 million budget shortfall. Scanlon said this is why an exploratory study is needed.

“You have to hire people. You have to buy vehicles, equipment, things of that nature,” Scanlon said. “But part of examining that, I think you have to look at, are there grants out there to help services like this or departments like this get up and running? I don’t have the answer to those questions and that’s part of why I want to look at this.”

The Buffalo Common Council is now on a break from legislative action, but Scanlon said conversations with AMR and the rest of the council on the resolution can begin immediately.

The council will reconvene on Sep. 3 with a full council meeting.

Trina Catterson joined the News 4 team in 2024. She previously worked at WETM-TV in Elmira, a sister station of WIVB. See more of her work here .