New York State Assemblymember Jon Rivera announced Monday $125,000 in state funds have been made available to give the Buffalo Fire Department’s 126-year-old Edward. M Cotter fireboat an overhaul to some of its vital systems.
“The Cotter is the oldest active fire boat in the world, and after 125 years of service, it remains a symbol of Buffalo's strength, its resilience, and its proud waterfront heritage,” Rivera said.
The money earmarked for the Cotter will be used to replace its transmission and engines. Captain Michael Kick explained given the age of the vessel and its components, many replacement parts are simply too expensive to recreate. For example, the estimate they received for recreating one transmission similar to what’s currently aboard was around half a million dollars.
“We found out that the transmissions that this boat has were actually first designed and used in landing craft during World War II, so they're an odd size. It's not something that was used on all kinds of different craft, so to find parts now for those is virtually impossible,” Kick said. “If we had to keep these transmissions and redo them, they would have to completely remanufacture them from scratch. Every single gear and the casing, they'd have to get the original drawings and blueprints and design features, and completely remanufacture it from scratch.”
As one crew member put it, the Cotter was in service three years before the Wright brothers conducted their first manned flight. But 126 years since its maiden voyage, the boat remains a relevant piece among the Buffalo Fire Department’s assets.
“We still serve as a fire boat, we clean the water intakes, we clean the break walls, we break ice during the winter. There's a whole lot of services that we provide,” said Kyle Zappia, a retired firefighter who now chairs the Edward M. Cotter Conservancy. “Also, now that the new boats are coming into Buffalo, the cruise ships, we're serving as EMS and fire protection for that as well.”
Additionally, the Cotter is receiving a private donation from Wardynski Meats to upgrade its galley. Raymond ‘Skip’ Wardynski, the third-generation owner of the Buffalo company, explained his company gives generously to the community on the ‘marching orders’ from his late grandfather, who founded the company in 1919, four years after arriving to the United States from Poland.
“He came here with nothing. He came from Poland with nothing. He said, ‘give, give to the community, give as much as you can, give till it hurts. And if it doesn't hurt, you're not giving enough,’” Wardynski said. Acknowledging the crew of the Cotter, he added, “You know what, these guys are great.”
