Ambulances on their way

MAT-SU -- Two new ambulances are on their way to the Mat-Su Borough, part of a plan to streamline resources and transform the Department of Emergency Services' hodgepodge mix of vehicles into a uniform fleet.

The two ambulances, costing a total of more than $225,000, are four-wheel drive Ford F-350s, and will replace two "aging two-wheel drive units for the Central district," according to information included in the Mat-Su Borough Assembly packet.

Acting Department of Emergency Services Director Dennis Brodigan said the four-wheel drive component is essential.

"Every single one of the ambulances, at some point in time, will be a four-wheel drive," Brodigan said. With the recent purchase, only three ambulances in the borough's fleet will be two-wheel drive.

The other essential component, Brodigan said, is that the new ambulances are on truck-front Ford F-350 chassis. In past years, the makes and models of the ambulance chassis has varied, Brodigan said. Some have been Chevy, others Ford, and some have been van-front, while others were truck-front. Although all of the ambulances did the job, in terms of picking up and delivering patients, the differences made maintenance problematic, he said. With different makes and models, it was difficult to keep necessary parts stocked for all of them, and just the act of doing repairs was sometimes complicated by the different designs -- especially the van-front ambulances, Brodigan said, which are notoriously scrunched for space.

"We're purging the fleet of those because they're harder to work on," Brodigan said. "We're trying to have a cost-effective fleet. If they're standardized, then our inventory of parts can be similar."

By next year, Brodigan said, the vehicles should all be four-wheel drive, with the remaining vehicles scheduled for replacement in the next fiscal year.

Although each vehicle varies as to how many miles and years it can be used, Brodigan said the F-350s tend to last about eight years, under the borough's aggressive maintenance standards. Although the ambulances are scheduled for regular replacement, none are being replaced early, Brodigan said. Although some privately owned ambulance services in the Lower 48 have high-efficiency replacement standards, replacing ambulances every 80,000 to 100,000 miles, Brodigan said that doesn't appear to be cost-effective in Alaska, where the market for used ambulances is considerably smaller.

"We don't necessarily have that salvage value -- there's not a big market up here for used ambulances," Brodigan said. "We don't have the luxury of turning around and selling a $100,000 vehicle after three or four years of use for $50,000."

Although some of the used ambulances are auctioned off through the borough surplus auction, Brodigan said the two ambulances being retired may have a second life with the borough. The Animal Care and Regulation division, he said, has requested an old ambulance be retrofitted to allow transport of medium-sized animals such as goats and large-breed dogs, while the side compartments could carry several smaller animals with some modification. The Mat-Su Dive Team, he said, has also requested an older-model four-wheel drive ambulance to replace the two-wheel drive model it currently uses. Another choice may be to send one ambulance up to replace the Chevy Suburban currently used as an emergency vehicle by Victory Bible Camp, and send the Suburban up to Lake Louise, which currently doesn't have a rescue vehicle.

However they're ultimately distributed, there may be several retired ambulances available for reuse in the next few months. Four were purchased earlier in the year and are set for distribution in the next few weeks -- one for Meadow Lakes, Talkeetna, Willow and Butte, he said. The two recently approved for purchase will likely be ready for use within a few months.