KENMORE, NY (WKBW) — The City of Good Neighbors continues to show an outpouring of love during this tragic time as the Buffalo Firefighters' family prepares for laying to rest fallen Firefighter Jason Arno who died while battling a March 1st fire at 745 Main Street in downtown Buffalo.
A heartwarming show of generosity at Colvin Cleaners in Kenmore, where some city firefighters brought their uniforms in for a sprucing up.
On some of the racks inside Colvin Cleaners, you will find Buffalo Fire Department uniforms. Some suit jackets and shirts were ready for pickup early Thursday afternoon.
“Everything cleaned and pressed. We were turning them around the same day,” remarked Chris Billoni, Vice President, Colvin Cleaners.
Billoni tells me they noticed on Monday a number of city firefighters dropping off their uniforms as they prepare to attend the wake and funeral of fallen Firefighter Arno.
Some of those Buffalo Firefighter uniforms needed a BFD patch sewn on.
The sewing team at Colvin Cleaners says they also did some repairs, sewing on buttons. They worked on about 50 uniforms.
This tragedy is hitting even closer to home for Billoni, who tells me he knew Arno growing up.
“You know I was a St. Joe's guy in high school. he was a Canisius guy, so same friends — we use to see each other at parties and then soccer teams and stuff like that,” Billoni reflected.
Billoni says he was so “shocked" to learn that it was Arno who died in the blaze.
“I was actually downtown for at a business meeting during the fire, so I was actually seeing it from a distance and you couldn't get too close and then you know the day went, and I was very busy and checked my phone maybe at 8:30 at night when the kids are in bed and kind of unwind, and I saw who it was — I was gutted,” recalled Billoni.
It's tradition for Colvin Cleaners to give back to the community and this time it's giving firefighters a 50-percent discount for work on their uniforms due to this unexpected Queen City tragedy.
“So we are doing everything we can to help them in any way we can,” replied Billoni. “We're the city of good neighbors — everybody knows everybody.”
