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October 13, 2012

Fire dept. to test fire truck, ambulance combo vehicle

Similar units are used in Italy and are expected to function best in rural areas

By Sam Boyer
The Dominion Post

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A prototype emergency vehicle that will operate as both an ambulance and a fire engine could be on the road for trials by the middle of next year.

The Fire Service and St John Ambulance hope the dual-purpose "fire-ambulance" will provide better care for patients, particularly in rural areas where volunteers are hard to find.

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Fire Service national commander and chief executive Paul Baxter said the unit would be of most use to brigades that attended many medical emergencies.

It would be trialled around the country before the engines were rolled out where and when required.

"The most important thing is the support for the people on the street — it's about getting the help to them. It makes sense.

"This demonstrates a heightened level of co-operation between the services."

The prototype will weigh up to seven tonnes.

It will be based on similar models used in Italy.

The vehicle will have a two- person cab at the front, pump and fire equipment storage in the middle, and the rear will be a single stretcher clinical space with seating for two more crew members. It will also be fitted with an underfloor water tank.

The number of medical calls attended by the Fire Service has doubled in the last decade and last year firefighters attended 6000 medical callouts.

It was intended the prototype would be tested and trialled by brigades trained to a higher level of first aid.

St John national operations director Michael Brooke said the ambulance service found it tough finding volunteers in remote communities.

"Often it's the same volunteers doing the same things [both fire and ambulance work] and we want to make it easier for them. It's about the services working together."

Demand for St John's services was growing, with more than 350,000 incidents attended last year — a 4.2 percent increase on the previous year.

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Sheila Myers Saturday, October 13, 2012 6:30:10 PM I don't see the logical thinking here personally why put them all in one if the amblunace has to leave the scene weather it be a fire or mva or mci u don't want your rescue aparatus going to nor all the people that rode to the scene in that equipment....bad bad I dea~.

Robert Musselman Monday, October 15, 2012 9:54:03 PM Does anyone make a rescue truck/ambulance combination. I don't need the pump and hose.

John Smith Tue Oct 16 07:26:36 PDT 2012 Clearfield, PA had one. The "seats" in the back could be used for patient transport. Under the seats were the water tanks. It also had a set of JAWS in each side. A pump with handlines on each side. Plus all their "stuff". They cover 18 miles of I-80. They designed the truck after one wreck needed all they had and then some. The one problem was it used the old Ford cab over and with the four wheel drive you almost needed a ladder just to get in th cab to drive it. A member had to take special training just to ride it as a helper, then more training to work their way up the different crew positions. They presented the plans to PennDOT and PennDOT help pay for it. Oh yea! it was named "THE MONSTER".