By Joseph Deinlein
The Evening Sun
PENN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The Penn Township Volunteer Emergency Services last week approved buying two new heavy-duty ambulances, replacing two vehicles that are nine and 10 years old and falling apart from the stress of running calls.
The volunteer agency is buying two Spartan/Road Rescue Ambulances from J&J Emergency Vehicles, which has an office in Chambersburg, for $455,130 for both rigs, said Penn Township Fire Chief Jan Cromer.
The Penn Township Board of Commissioners learned the volunteers intended to buy the new ambulances before the purchase at the public safety committee meeting Monday. Cromer said the volunteers would be able to pay for the new ambulances using money from the company’s ambulance membership fund and service payments.
No township money will be used for the purchase, though the board has in the past agreed to guarantee debt for the volunteer agency. A full report on the cost of the equipment, as well as a 2009 audit of the fire company, will be provided to the commissioners in the coming months, Cromer said.
The new equipment is designed to better handle the needs of an ambulance service that has seen population increases and a coverage area that has expanded into Hanover Borough. The ambulance went from handling about 1,500 calls in 2007 to about 4,500 calls in 2009, Cromer told the commissioners.
The units will have a commercial-style cab and chassis with a “Road Rescue” module box attached, where patients are cared for, Cromer said. The models being retired are not commercial grade and are beginning to wear on the usage.
And they only have about 90,000 miles on them, he said.
The new ambulances are expected to get between 200,000 and 250,000 miles.
“They will last at least twice the time of the present ones we are using,” Cromer said in an e-mail Wednesday. “When the cab and chassis wears out, the module could be removed and placed on another commercial cab and chassis.”
Plans for the old ambulances aren’t set, but Cromer said the vehicle with the least amount of wear and tear likely will be kept in reserve in case of emergencies. The other one likely will be sold.
The new ambulances will join the company’s other two ambulances in about six or seven months, Cromer said.
Copyright 2010 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved