North Carolina Fire Department Gets Unique Fire Truck/Ambulance Hybrid
The pumper does double duty for reduced operating cost and staffing.
Outfitting an emergency response department’s fleet is an expensive and often daunting task. Whether you operate as a tax district, through medical billing, or donations, it is never enjoyable to spend money. With this in mind, departments have gotten very creative in ways to save money, reduce response times and better serve the community.
In particular, Greenville Fire Rescue in North Carolina has sought the help of Atlantic Emergency Solutions and Pierce Manufacturing to build a pumper/ambulance hybrid. Although the initial cost is $800,000, it is still cheaper than a new ambulance and fire engine. In addition, operating and staff costs are a lot lower than when a department needs to staff two vehicles.
This particular piece of apparatus will serve a rural station currently being built for department. Rather than worrying about staffing an ambulance in addition to a pumper, the department will only have to staff this one vehicle. This vehicle will also drastically cut down response times as the same personnel can jump directly from a fire call to an EMS call. The only downside is the vehicle is obviously committed to a scene one it stretches a line and starts pumping operations.
The pumper function of the unit will have a 500-gallon water tank as well as a 1250-gpm pumping system. In order to keep the truck up to speed, it is powered by a 450-horsepower Cummins engine on a Pierce Velocity chassis.