Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District put a new ambulance in service last month.
The ambulance cost the district $113,700. The new ambulance includes a variety of features that improve on its older ambulances.
It replaces a 1993 with 181,000 miles.
The new ambulance has already reached 5,800 miles, Battalion Chief Dave Barringer said. The district’s third-out ambulance has 103,000 miles. A fourth unit is a four-wheel drive used for calls in the mountains. It also serves as fourth-out and has 39,000 miles.
The new ambulance, a 2005 Braun Prestige, has a 2004 square box that provides medics with more room to work and more storage space. Most of the lights are LED, with a rotating light bar. The lights draw less amperage and will last longer.
The older ambulances have angled boxes, which are supposed to help ambulances move through rural areas between low-hanging branches, but it costs room inside the box, Barringer said. The square box is cheaper, and it provides more space.
Medics can now reach their gear through doors on the outside of the box. A different ventilation system works better, Barringer said. It has a number of little improvements like that.
It also has a bigger space for storing firefighting equipment and two oxygen tanks, which means medics can now run a tank all the way to empty before replacing it.
A sliding side door no longer runs the risk of being open in front of traffic.
An improved onboard computer allows medics to send codes to the driver without leaving a patient. It also controls a number of other functions ranging from air conditioning to using the oxygen tanks.
“It rides better, drives better,” Barringer said. “It has a lot of power”
The ambulance has a 6.0-liter Ford engine and a better siren package, including two siren heads that can operate independently.
The dual speaker system “gets people out of the way,” Barringer said. It also includes blue lights, which are supposed to be more visible at night .