Published: August 05, 2008 01:57 pm         

New ambulances bought

Increasing response speed and making it to an emergency scene are crucial for medics. After hearing that the Morehead-Rowan County EMS was experiencing mechanical problems, the county purchased new ambulances earlier this year for $88,888 each.

“The Rowan County Fiscal Court purchased three Chevy wheeled coach ambulances,” said EMS Director Danny Blevins. “Rowan County Fiscal Court secured the funding from Kentucky Association of Counties Leasing Trust.”

“We actually purchased the ambulances sometime between February and March. We did a bond issue with Kentucky Association of Counties (KACO),” said Rowan Judge-executive Jim Nickell. “The payments will be made in five annual installments.”

They were placed in service on May 1. The ambulance service’s daily runs have increased dramatically, placing a lot of miles on their older vehicles. The ambulance service was experiencing unexpected problems with their Ford fleet of ambulances. This was due in part to a continued problem with the Ford 6.0 diesel motor, Blevins said.

“We need to be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to the maintenance of our fleet,” he said. ”The ambulances purchased from Muster Emergency Vehicles meet all the state and federal standards.”

Two of the older ambulances were donated to volunteer fire departments and rescue squads in the county. The ambulance service now maintains six ambulances and withholds one for reserve.

“All of the staff seems to be pleased with the new ambulances,” Blevins said.” I want to thank the county judge executive and the fiscal court for having the vision to purchase the three trucks.”

Blevins said the purchase of the vehicles has increased their preparedness level in Rowan County.

“I think that this is the route that the county should go instead of doing remounting of the ambulance box to the chasses of the new truck,” said Nickell. “They were spending more time in the garage rather than on the road on ambulance runs.”

Nickell said that whenever ambulances broke down in the past, the ambulance service had to borrow ambulances from other counties. Buying the new ambulances saves the ambulance service from having to borrow vehicles.

The members of the fiscal court agree that the purchase of the vehicles is a good thing for the county.

“It was much needed equipment to maintain emergency services for the citizens of Rowan County,” said Magistrate for District 4 Nick Caudill.