BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — For first responders — every second counts, but about 1800 speed humps scattered across the city are slowing down Buffalo's firefighters, according to Buffalo Fire Commissioner William Renaldo.
He was asked about this problem at a Buffalo Common Council budget hearing just the other week.
"I just have a couple quick questions about the speed humps that are in the City of Buffalo and if that has any impact on the firefighter response time?" Delaware District Council member Joel Feroleto asked.
"It’s quite a two-way sword actually because on the hand it slows down our firefighters and one of the things that we’ve been stressing is accident prevention so in that respect, you know, I like the speed humps. Not the number of them. Personally, I think there are too many, especially on some of our side streets. They are having a significant impact on repairs to our vehicles. Our frontline apparatus are experiencing a higher volume of incidents as far as our suspension goes. So yes, they are having a negative effect in that matter," Renaldo replied. "We've been discussing with DPW and other entities as far as what can be done possibly but we're not near where we need to go yet and we're still gathering data as well as far as repairs to our apparatus."
But this is what the Commissioner said a few days after that hearing.
"Are you having any conversations with the DPW Commissioner in terms of how can we move forward when solving this?" 7 News' Kristen Mirand asked.
"The speed humps are here. They're here for a reason. It's a quality-of-life issue. We fully support it. It's an issue. It's more of an us adapting to the presence of the speed humps," Renaldo replied.
Although Renaldo said the speed humps are a concern and said he anticipates this issue will "level off" as firefighters "adjust" to the humps.
"We're slowing down. We're getting used to the locations of the speed humps and we're sticking to the main thoroughfares as much as possible," Renaldo said.
But an officer of one platoon told 7 News firefighters talk about them every day and say it slows them down.
"The rigs are breaking more than they used to...our rigs are already old to begin with," the officer said.
A Federal Highway Administration study said speed humps can add about 10 seconds to emergency vehicle response times.
Take engine 34 for example which sits on Mercer Avenue where there are two speed humps between Main and Hill Streets. Each speed hump would then add 20 seconds to the response time.
Buffalo Common Council President Chris Scanlon said he's been hearing from members of the police, fire and public works departments about the damage the humps can have on equipment.
"If it's adding to that time that's a problem. When you start getting into things talking about heart attacks, strokes, things of that nature, seconds count If it’s adding to that time that’s a problem. A minute is a big deal so that’s something we’ll have to look into moving forward," Scanlon said.
He said he wants to get to the bottom of this with Commissioner Renaldo.
"I'd love to have another conversation with him, quite frankly, to make sure that what he said here in chambers is how he feels," Scanlon said.
