After the weekend’s incidents, East Rochester fire chiefs discuss the carnival’s future

Rochester, New York – Over the course of the weekend, a number of local law enforcement agencies and community resources were called to the school district grounds, which were hosting the annual Firemen’s Carnival in 2024.

The carnival was about to close on Saturday before 10:00 p.m., when more than 200 people got into fights all throughout the place, according to the East Rochester Police Department. The setup for this year’s carnival has already undergone modifications from the previous one in order to establish a more regulated atmosphere. A private company engaged to inspect bags established a single point of entry. A 17-year-old was detained on Saturday night for attempting to attend the carnival while carrying a loaded rifle.

“As unfortunate as it was that somebody had a gun- a loaded gun – if that thing was used, obviously it could have been a lot worse but you have trained staff there making observations and you know he was quickly taken into custody without incident really,” says Drew Forsythe, one of the owners of Patriot Protection & Investigations, the security firm hired for the carnival.

Several knives and two stun guns were also seized at different times throughout the security checks. In honor of the town’s 125th anniversary, East Rochester Fire Chief Jim Diego tells News 8 that the village kindly contributed pyrotechnics to the carnival the previous year. This year’s increased security measures were paid for with such funds.

The carnival is a major source of funding for the 35-member, all volunteer fire department, which helps out other community organizations.

“We’re here providing a service to the community. We provide services from the fire side as well as support for community groups within East Rochester and it’ll affect them if we don’t have these major fundraisers,” Chief Diego says.

The Chief said that the fire department is taking that possibility into consideration when asked if there is a chance that the carnival would completely disappear as a result of the growing complexity around public safety in recent years.

“It is. It is. I know people would be upset. We’re not giving in to the ones that decided to come here and create havoic but safety is our number one priorty.”

According to the Odgen Police Department, there were events this year during the Spencerport Fireman’s Carnival in early June that involved sizable groups of people, the most of whom were young. Due to fights that broke out, the carnival had to close early on the final night as well as the entrapment.

There were a few persons held, but there were no arrests or other disturbances. The department participated in an after-action evaluation with the Fireman’s Association, the Odgen Police Chief adds, and they made several recommendations to enhance security going forward.

Forsythe describes how other festivals and summertime events in the area have adjusted their operations in response to a number of unanticipated events in recent years.

“There’s a lot of events around Monroe County that unfortunately have now have had to change some of their policies with kids under the age of 18 needing to be accompanied by a parent. Because a lot of the problems that we see – whether it be in law enforcement or security in these large-scale events — it’s young people, right? and so having accountability, having somebody responsilble for their actions is a huge factor,” says Forsythe.

Chief Diego continues, saying that the fire department, carnival committee, and affiliated agencies will meet soon to formally examine the “incident plan” that was in place and decide on the course of action for the event in 2025.