Local law enforcement are requesting additional information before oking the purchase of a second ambulance for the city of Jamestown Fire
Department. Our Bronson Rasmussen joins us live from the news room with more on the likelihood of this additional ambulance purchase
Justin, the vehicle itself costs $150,000 with an additional $100,000 needed in equipment
The final purchase would be a similar build to the city's current ambulance
Our intent would be that whichever vendor we ultimately
receive a bid from or mobiles which whoever the bid is awarded to
We would certainly request that they would install their load system as part of the package
Um, the air device, the stair chair, that's a separate piece. Also, currently Jamestown Fire has one and it's in the ambulance and it is
a required piece. Um, in order to safely to keep people down stairwells
we certainly need to put a fire radio, a met radio and have a portable radio be available for that vehicle
So there's some costs that could be expected there. Jamestown fire chief, Matthew Coon goes on to say the second ambulance is necessary to keep
up with ever growing need for E M T services. These are all the calls that we've had over the last few years that we've
had to rely on our neighbors to answer for us. So this is really the overflow and as you can see
it has been increasing steadily since 2019
I've got no reason to believe that the number will not exceed 500 by the time we get to the end of this year
While there is not always a Jamestown ambulance available crews are still expected to be on scene
So even if a mutual aid agency is coming in a piece of Jamestown fire equipment equipment should be going to that call also
So our own providers are there to do first response just like we do with all
to the second. Ambulance. Lawmakers also looked at a proposal to add eight new firefighters to the roster which would ultimately operate the new vehicle
while the increase in personnel would help. The chief says it's not necessarily connected
Having the additional personnel is certainly going to make this process go much smoother as well as not reducing down. Obviously, the firefighting force
both the proposals were passed through public safety but not through the finance committee
As members wanted more information on the costs of operating an ambulance compared to the revenue that it brings in
Now, if the council does approve the purchase of ambulance this month
the fire chief believes that it could be deployed in as soon as two months reporting live in the newsroom
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