New Fairfield buys a new ambulance
NEW FAIRFIELD — The town’s volunteer fire department is getting a new ambulance, and it won’t cost taxpayers an additional dime.
The Board of Selectmen approved the purchase of a $275,000 new ambulance — $195,500 of which will come from town contributions to the department’s apparatus reserve fund.
The fire department will cover the rest, $79,500.
The ambulance is $45,000 over budget due to pandemic-related supply-chain constraints driving up prices, but that’s part of the cost the department is covering, Fire Chief Bruce Taylor said.
“The fire department, through its own funds, is going to make up the difference with no impact to the taxpayers,” he said. “We have accounts that we save up. The money will come from various points within our own coffers, so to speak.”
The new Ford F-450 Chassis ambulance will have some features the department’s current ambulances lack, such as four-wheel drive.
“It gives us some different options with the weather and the snow,” Taylor said.
New Fairfield has some “very difficult accessways,” he said, and a four-wheel drive ambulance would make responding to calls easier, despite rough road and weather conditions.
Taylor said there have been times when New Fairfield ambulances have run into problems due to lack of four-wheel drive.
“A few years ago in mid-winter, both of our ambulances were out and one of them got stuck on the backside of Candlewood Hills on the ice, slid into the snow and couldn’t get out,” he said.
Not only did a town truck have trouble reaching the stuck ambulance, Taylor said, but the chief’s truck did too — and it wasn’t until some neighbors came out to help that the ambulance was finally pulled out of the snow and ice.
“After that, we said we really need to look at a four-wheel drive ambulance when the time comes,” he said.
The new ambulance will also have a more advanced air conditioning system than the department's current emergency medical vehicles.
“One of the complaints patients and crew have is air-conditioning,” Taylor said. “One thing we want to make sure is that our patients are comfortable and our crew can work in a safe and comfortable environment.”
Not only that, but standard air conditioning systems put “substantial stress” on the trucks and are costly to repair, he said, noting that the system in one of New Fairfield’s two ambulances has had to be replaced several times.
Taylor said the air conditioning system on the new ambulance may be more costly upfront, but it will save money in the long run.
The request for a new ambulance did not come as a surprise.
The town regularly contributes to a fire department apparatus reserve fund and covers 85 percent of equipment purchases. The fire department typically picks up the remaining 15 percent but is covering more this time because the project went over budget.
With that fund is a schedule of coming equipment purchases.
“We have it spelled out for about 20 years, so nothing’s hidden,” Taylor said. “We all know what the costs are moving forward so we can budget.”
Following the Board of Selectmen’s approval to move forward, the purchase order for the ambulance was signed and sent to New Jersey-based vendor PL Custom Emergency Vehicles.
“Now our name goes on a list to build,” Taylor said.
Due to supply chain problems, he said the town is looking at a yearlong wait.
“It’s usually about four to five months build time, but we’re looking at probably Christmas next year before we get it,” Taylor said.