Tonawanda launching own town ambulance service following response time concerns

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Town of Tonawanda is launching its own ambulance services amid concerns over response times from the private company that currently serves the town, officials said Thursday.

The town will begin its own service beginning in the first quarter of 2025. Town supervisor Joe Emminger said in a news conference Thursday that the service has been in the works for about a year due to concerns with response times from Twin City Ambulance, the company that currently serves the town. Emminger said that Twin City being understaffed is a culprit of the response times, which have taken upwards of 30 to 60 minutes in some cases.

“It’s no knock against them,” Emminger said Thursday. “Like a lot of companies, they’re having trouble finding people to fill their positions.”

The town will begin with the purchase of two full-service ambulances with plans to purchase two more later in the year. The ambulances cost around $250,000 each. To help offset the cost, the town has secured a $250,000 grant in state funding to purchase the first ambulance.

The town will still use some private ambulance services, in particular for hospital-to-hospital transfers. Emminger estimated that the town sees around 6,000 yearly 911 calls, so the focus will be responding to those calls.

“We’re going to crawl before we walk, walk before we run,” Emminger said. “We know there are going to be some kinks, but hopefully very few.”

The ambulances will also service the Village of Kenmore.

The town will be looking to hire between 15 and 20 EMS personnel to service the new fleet of ambulances, with hires being done late this year and early next year.

Tonawanda is not the first municipality in Western New York to at least consider having its own ambulance service. In December 2023, Lockport and Niagara County restored its service after being served by Twin City since 2014. Erie County also began a backup service in 2023, mostly to service rural areas in the southern part of the county. The City of Buffalo has also expressed concerns with American Medical Response, a different private ambulance service, over the company’s response times.

Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here .