WEST, Texas — West EMS will receive a $129,000 donation from a relief fund on Monday to help replace ambulances destroyed in the April 17 fertilizer plant explosion.
WacoTrib reported that the Cattleman’s Relief Fund was started by buyers and sellers at the West Auction Barn. Two of the EMS department’s three ambulances were totaled in the explosion and their insurance reimbursement fell nearly $300,000 short to buy new vehicles, according to the report.
The vehicles will take between four and six months to build; in the interim they’re using an older-model ambulance that was donated, according to the report.
Officials also learned their insurance policy on their headquarters would cover the cost of rebuilding if the building is constructed exactly as it was before, according to the report.
“They’ll pay 100 percent, but it has to be the same size, the same grade of metal, the same everything,” EMS director Dr. George Smith said. “As long as we do that, it will be covered.”
Smith said there is still plenty of equipment that needs replacing, including training dummies, equipment for the ambulances and other necessities, according to the report.
West EMS officials think a common misconception led the public to funnel donations and aid to the city’s volunteer fire department while forgetting about the needs at the EMS department, according to the report. Officials believe the public thought the West Volunteer Fire Department and West EMS was the same unit and that donations would help both.
“As far as the business aspect goes, we have nothing to do with them, and they have nothing to do with us,” Fire Chief George Nors Sr. said. “They take care of their business and we take of ours.”