Despite two months of the village relying on mutual aid, fire department officials were able to get a new ambulance prepared in a relatively quick period of time, preventing a further wait for the service’s return.

The ambulance was officially cleared for use on March 3, with members of the department gathering together to celebrate the milestone. The ambulance was taken out of commission back in December, when the Falconer ambulance was responding to a mutual aid call in the town of Gerry. During this time the ambulance was transporting a patient. At around 4:30 a.m., while the ambulance was being driven by Greg P. Scott, 53, with county medic Walid Al-Jabiri, 44, located inside with the patient. It was during this time that a Gerry plow truck, which was clearly the Gerry Rodeo grounds, would back into the ambulance while it was traveling along NY Route-60. The plow truck was being driven by Brian Anderson, 63, of Gerry. During the wreck Al-Jabiri was struck by a piece of medical equipment inside of the ambulance, causing the need to seek further medical attention.

Mayor James Jarosynzski said the department was fortunate enough to have a large number of departments nearby that supplied Falconer with mutual aid during this time. Fire Chief Kieth Babcock stated that mutual aid was received from the town of Gerry, Kiantone, Kennedy, ALSTAR EMS and the Chautauqua County EMS services fly cars. Babcock said while aid was well-received during this time, mutual aid can only be provided if these departments have the personnel to do so. With certain times of day yielding far more calls in the area than others, Babcock stated that it would not be a sustainable solution to rely on mutual aid for long.

“But we made out pretty good because like, I’m retired and I’m an EMT Critical Career. I’m around most of the time during the day, and we have a couple of other people,” said Babcock. “So if we call Kennedy and they don’t have any EMTs, we could supply that, you know. So, it didn’t really get hindered too bad.”

Members of the fire department gather together to celebrate the addition of the new ambulance.

While the department worked quickly to get the new ambulance up and running, the process was no easy task. Babcock said the process typically takes weeks as there are many regulations that must be met before the vehicle can take to the roads. After getting a blank ambulance supplied from a company in Michigan back in February, Babcock said one of the first installations was the department’s letter. Babcock noted that the state requires that the department’s name be displayed in at least three places on the vehicle. Following this, the department would have to go through the typical registration process, as well as getting any specific licensing that is required for it to transport patients. Next was the process of getting the vehicle put onto the department’s insurance, as well as stocking up the ambulance with all of the necessary medical supplies. With the ambulance having been out of commission for about two months, Babcock noted that some of the medical equipment has become expired. This required officials to carefully examine all of the supplies to make sure that everything was up to date.

The health department inspection was the final piece of the puzzle that the department had been waiting on, according to Babcock. The health department must perform a final inspection on the ambulance to ensure that the contents, certifications, and records are all up to date. Babcock stated that, while a typically lengthy process, officials from the health department were coincidentally in the area on March 3.