1983 - Brighton Volunteer Ambulance was founded as the idea of a small group of Town residents who believed that "Caring for Our Neighbors" was the wave of the future and would increase the strength of the community in Brighton.
1986 - Following a lengthy challenge by the areas's largest proprietary ambulance service, the New York State Supreme Court upheld the New York State EMS Council's decision to grant Brighton Volunteer Ambulance a certificate to operate a Registered ambulance service.
BVA was granted 501(c)(3) status as a not-for-profit organization by the Internal
Revenue Service.
The Corps. purchased a used ambulance (Van - Type II) from another local ambulance corps. and put it into service in July 1, 1986.
Our First Base - French Road
The first facility used by Brighton Volunteer Ambulance was located on 560 French Road. It was leased for one year from the WXXI Public Broadcasting Council, the local PBS TV and radio outlet. You can see the AM radio towers in the background.
Providing a headquarters with a dispatch center and sleeping quarters for our crews, this former house adapted well to being a hub for volunteers and emergency vehicles.
1987 - Brighton Volunteer Ambulance purchased the historic Buckland/Horst House located at 1551 Winton Road, South. This is our current base. Built in 1830 by the Buckland family, this brick home with carriage house still has the original stone wall foundation. Below is one of the earliest photographs we have of the original buildings.
Our base was the original home to the Buckland family and is considered a historic landmark within the Town of Brighton and was recognized as such by this cast iron landmark post on the front lawn.
While most of the farm has changed hands over the years, the Town of Brighton bought a large portion adjacent to the BVA base to be used as a town park for the community following a referendum on Open Space and the town comprehensive plan written in 2000.
The Brighton Volunteer Ambulance base is located on the northeast portion of the area now known as the Buckland Park. The park was dedicated in April 2005.
Shortly after being purchased the Brighton Volunteer Ambulance obtained permission to build a connector building between the ell of the main house and the two story carriage house. Today there are maple and magnolia trees on the property which provide wonderful screening from the adjacent intersection and beautiful colors year round.
Seen here from the north, the main house is comprised of a two story structure to the south with a one and a half story structure pictured. The ell off the main house runs east toward the carriage house. The original porches and sandstone window lentils remain intact. There is very little information available about the interior layout of the house and the changes that occurred.
1988 - Brighton Volunteer Ambulance became voluntarily CERTIFIED, nearly 12 years before the NYS Dept. of Health certification was required by law. This guaranteed our patients at least one attendant was trained to the Federally approved
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) level on each call.
1990 - Wanting to bring a higher level of service to our town, Brighton Volunteer Ambulance became voluntarily certified to deliver AEMT - Intermediate level care. This placed BVA in with the top 25 percentile of all ambulance services in New York. We were delivering Advanced Life Support care at a time when close to half of all independent ambulances services in New York State were still only delivering Basic Life Support (BLS) care on all calls.
1993 - The Town of Brighton created a Special Ambulance District. Funds collected supplement our operating budget.
1996 - In January, BVA becomes certified as an Automatic External Defibrillator agency placing AED units on their Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances.
In March, Brighton Volunteer Ambulance obtained certification as a AEMT - Paramedic level of care agency. The first "fly car" to transport the Advanced Life Support technician and their specialized equipment was purchased with funds donated by the Brighton chapter of Kiwanis International.
1997 - Some 9 years after BVA became voluntarily "certified"; more than 30 percent of almost 1200 ambulances services in New York were STILL only operating as "Registered" ambulance services. It was not until 2000 that certification of all ambulance services in New York was fully accomplished.
2001 - Brighton Volunteer Ambulance answers "the ultimate request" for Mutual Aid.
Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, BVA sent medical supplies, an Advanced Life Support ambulance with two 3- member crews and its Urban K-9 Disaster/Recovery Team with 3 members to assist in recovery efforts.
(Zack pictured on left - Photo courtesy of Fox 5 - News in NYC)
It was later discovered that Zhe "Zack" Zeng, a BVA member who had relocated to New York City, was killed when the first WTC tower collapsed. He had been voluntarily performing first aid. Media reports also credit him with helping save two NYFD firefighters.
After hearing that the Lindenwood Volunteer Ambulance Corps of Queens (NYC) lost one of their two ambulances due to its response to the 9 - 11 WTC attacks, the BVA Board of Directors voted to donate our old 3059 ambulance, that was due for rotational replacement, to LVAC so they could continue to provide the high level of service to their community. They serve a population of about 40,000. There was a formal dedication in December 2001, attended by members of BVA, Brighton Town Supervisor Frankel and hosted by Lindenwood VAC at their headquarter in Queens.
2003 - BVA trained over 70 Town of Brighton Employees in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and the use of Automated External Defibrillators in the event of a cardiac emergency in any of the Town offices.
Brighton Volunteer Ambulance ended the year of 2003 covering 3746 calls for assistance. That is over 10 calls a day. We work closely with other local public safety organizations including the Brighton Police, Brighton and West Brighton Fire Departments, and the Brighton Town Board Public Safety Committee.