Car smashes into fire hall in Amherst

AMHERST (WIVB) - Rescuers had to cut a driver from his car after he crashed into an fire hall in Amherst early Monday morning.

Police say 50-year old Mark Detlef of Buffalo was going eastbound on Main Street just after midnight when he left the road, jumped a curb, and smashed into the firehouse.

Rescuers had to cut him out of the car, something that took a longer time than usual because of the circumtances.

"As you can see, from the area where the car is, we're not real confident that the structure is sound there," said Lt. Chris Meyer of the Amherst Police Department. "So we had to take special care that the firemen and the occupant of the vehicle were as safe as possible. So that took a little extra time, plus the conditions as you can see was a little bit of a tight area where the car was."

Detlef was taken to ECMC, where a condition was not available Monday morning.

Police are still trying to figure out what caused the crash, and investigators are looking at the damage caused to the building, including three fire trucks. There's no damage total yet but it's expected to be in the hundreds of thousands.

"Obviously as you can see from the pictures, there appears to be pretty extensive damage to the building and they're going to obviously have to inspect the structure to see that it's sound and what needs to be repaired," Lt. Meyer said.

Police say charges are pending against the driver.