By Hunter Amabile
The Sentinel & Enterprise
WESTMINSTER, Mass. — The Fire Department is ready to put in its order for a new custom-made ambulance and will likely have the vehicle in the fleet in January, said Fire Chief Brenton MacAloney.
The purchasing of a new ambulance was approved by Town Meeting in May for $185,000. This money comes directly from the money the ambulance collected from insurance companies for various transports.
The accepted bid for the new truck came in quite a bit lower than expected at $164,998, MacAloney said.
There were other bidders, with the highest coming in at $169,942, he said.
The lowest bid was $133,863 for a demo unit that did not meet all the search requirements because it was a used vehicle.
The bid accepted was from Braun Ambulance, a company that builds customized emergency-service vehicles.
The benefit with going with a new vehicle is the ability to build-to-suit, MacAloney said.
“Customarily, how a fire department wishes to operate and what kind of supplies and how you carry them is unique to that department,” he said.
Because there is already a system in place, MacAloney is using the current ambulance as a footprint to make it easier for the responders to work in the vehicle.
“We try to keep as much consistency as we can,” he said, although some alterations are necessary for improvement.
The ability to dictate these alterations allows the department to put lights where they want or the trash receptacles in certain places, for instace.
One way the department will be cutting back on some costs is by installing the radios itself, MacAloney said.
The chief will be making the final specifications this week and sending the designs. The ambulance will be built this fall.
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