By Gena Kittner
Wisconsin State Journal
WESTPORT, Wis. — The Dane County Sheriff’s Office has a new way to rescue people stuck or injured in hard-to-reach places, like a cross-country ski trail or farm field.
A “snowbulance” — an enclosed toboggan-like unit designed to be towed behind a snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle to access places other emergency vehicles typically can’t go — has been donated to the Sheriff’s Office by the Dane County Council of Snowmobile Clubs.
A second snow ambulance was purchased by the county’s Emergency Management Department.
Sheriff Dave Mahoney called the rescue toboggans a “vital tool.”
“I’m convinced it will eventually save a life,” he said at a news conference Thursday unveiling the two units.
The snowbulances are heated, have room for a patient and an emergency responder, come equipped with a gurney and interior lighting for night rescues and are built with a gas shock suspension system to reduce bouncing during transport.
The units can be fitted with skis or wheels depending on the weather and location of the rescue.
Officials cited examples of times snowbulances could have been used: when an injured cross country skier was carried out of Indian Lake Park, and the blizzard in 2008 that stranded more than 2,000 vehicles on Interstate 39-90 south of Madison for more than 12 hours.
In addition to carrying injured people, it also can haul supplies, such as water, or transport stranded motorists to a warm location, Mahoney said.
Each snowbulance cost $6,619 — a price Mahoney said would have been “very difficult” for the department to afford, and he thanked the snowmobile council for its fundraising.
One snowbulance will be housed at the Fish Camp boathouse on Lake Kegonsa and the other in a county-owned facility in the town of Westport.
Copyright 2011 Madison Newspapers, Inc.