Buffalo's Edward M. Cotter now has a baby brother, with the Grand Island Fire Company adding a fireboat to its land fleet.
Fire Chief Kevin Koch says his department covers all of Grand Island and out into the Niagara River. He notes his department gets different emergencies than most department like lock fires, boat fires and boat rescues.
There is no name yet for the new 24-foot fire boat but it's already been used on a rescue. That's smaller than the Cotter, but with many of the same purposes.
The chief said the fireboat comes from a company in Superior, Wisconsin which has a specialty in smaller fire boats. Koch said it replaces a smaller boat which isn't ideal for firefighters.
Koch said the boat will be in the water whenever the river is ice-free, working from a dock on the East River.
