Twin City Ambulance issues cease-and-desist letter to Town of Tonawanda

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Twin City Ambulance sent a cease-and-desist letter Friday to the Town of Tonawanda, saying public officials made “false and defamatory statements” about the company’s response times Thursday in a press conference.

Twin City Ambulance, a private company that serves the town, is asking Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Joe Emminger to retract the statements made during the conference where he announced that the town is launching its own ambulance service after concerns over response times.

Emminger said in some cases, response times have taken upwards of 30 to 60 minutes, listing Twin City being understaffed as a cause. In an interview with WIVB News 4 Friday, Twin City President Terence Clark refuted Emminger’s statement and said its average response time is 10 minutes and 12 seconds.

“No one has brought up any systemic problems with our response times, so it was a complete shock to me seeing that press conference and seeing that that is the entire impetus behind creating their own ambulance services,” Clark said.

Clark went on to say that all of its calls in the Town of Tonawanda are “cold,” meaning no lights or sirens are used and traffic laws are followed, which is an agreement the town has. He also said the town could have asked Twin City to go “hot” if the cold responses weren’t working, which he said indicates there aren’t any response time issues.

Bryan Brauner, the CEO of Twin City, said in a press release that its longest response time to a cold call in the last year was 36 minutes.

In a statement to News 4 Friday, Emminger said the town understands the company’s position.

“The emergency care that our residents require, when they need it the most, is/was the driving factor behind the town’s decision to move forward with our own ambulance corp,” he said.

Along with the cease-and-desist letter, Twin City submitted a Freedom of Information Law request for a study commissioned by the town that Clark said hasn’t been made available to the public. The FOIL request also asks for a full list of ambulance requests made in the past year in the town and the Village of Kenmore that lasted over one hour.

Thursday’s press conference comes after previous concerns of ambulance response times in other areas of Western New York. Residents and officials have expressed concerns with American Medical Response in the City of Buffalo, with some saying ambulances have responded extremely late or not at all.

Erie County started a backup ambulance service in September 2023 to help volunteer companies in the Southtowns. The City of Lockport and Niagara County followed suit shortly after by restoring its service after being served by Twin City since 2014.

The Town of Tonawanda plans to start offering its service in the first quarter of 2025 with the purchase of two ambulances and plans to purchase two more later that year. It’s also looking to hire 15 to 20 EMS personnel.

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Katie Skoog joined the News 4 team in April 2024. She is a graduate from the University at Buffalo. You can view more of her work here.

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

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