By Ian Bauer
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
HONOLULU — The Honolulu Emergency Services Department held something akin to an outdoor car show at Keehi Lagoon Beach Park on Tuesday morning.
In a line that stretched the length of one of the park’s parking lots, the city showed off 16 new or newly refurbished ambulances—namely, 14 Emergency Medical Services rigs and two Crisis Outreach Engagement and Response Sprinter vans—meant to respond to a myriad of lifesaving emergencies and medical care incidents across Oahu, on a 24/7 basis.
Most of the ambulances on display featured placards—“Makiki, ” “Kahuku, ” “Kailua ” and “Hawaii Kai, ” among others—that denoted their respective areas of service on the island.
The department also showed off its first-ever outfitted AmbuBus—deemed a state-of-the-art mass casualty vehicle that can treat and transport multiple patients at a time.
Mayor Rick Blan giardi, HESD Director Dr. Jim Ireland, three Honolulu City Council members and dozens of city EMS and CORE personnel were in attendance.
“Today is a monumentous day for us, and I still can’t believe, really, what I’m seeing, ” Ireland told those gathered. “When I drove in I knew the numbers, I knew what we had purchased, but to just see this; we’ve never had a purchase this big, or an acquisition.”
He said that two years ago, “when this kind of started, I wasn’t even sure we were going to be able to get one ambulance.”
“We were coming out of COVID, there were supply chain issues, there were no chassis available, some chip was missing … all these factors were against us,” he added.
In spite of the difficulties, Ireland claimed the city put together a procurement package that includes the purchase of six new ambulances and eight remounted rigs.
“And these are existing boxes that for about half the price of a new ambulance, we were able to pick up and drop on a brand-new chassis, relieving an ambulance that might have been in excess of 300,000 miles, at the end of its service life, ” he said. “Instead of just auctioning it off, sending it off, putting it somewhere, we were able to remount that, get more ambulances for our dollar, save the taxpayers some money but, at the same time, give our teams the absolute best that they deserve and need to take care of people.”
The new fleet includes four-wheel drive ambulances, too.
“I believe Kahuku and Waialua are getting four-wheel drive, ” Ireland said. “We don’t encourage four-wheel driving per se, but if they get into a muddy or sandy environment, that will help them kind of get out of that.”
CORE’s two Sprinter vans will help the group’s effort to provide medical and social services to Oahu’s homeless population, he said.
HESD’s director related how CORE’s vans replaced an old 911 ambulance—dubbed “8080, ” based on its city and county license plate number—that racked up 330, 000 miles.
“It took us through up until maybe just a couple of weeks ago, ” Ireland said. “And then we finally retired 8080, and we got these two new Sprinter vans for the CORE team.”
He added that he was “happy to report 8080 is scheduled to be one of our next remounts.”
“Because as many ambulances as this is—14 plus the two CORE—we’re getting four more remounts in three months, ” he announced. “Three to six months after that, we’re getting four brand-new ambulances. So our entire EMS fleet for Oahu will be under a year old within about six months or so.”
Blangiardi said the city’s latest ambulance procurement was a “historic day.”
“What I’m really proud of is the capability this gives our city, ” the mayor added. “When we talk in terms of public safety and the concerns that people have, I don’t think there’s a more chilling sentence that I hope never to really have to utter again, I’ve done once before, but which is when you say, ‘Call an ambulance.’”
Later, Kahu Brutus La Benz performed a traditional Hawaiian blessing on the EMS vehicles, which involved sprinkling rainwater he’d collected at his Moiliili home on the ambulance rigs and their respective crews. The kahu also highlighted the efforts of the city’s EMS and CORE personnel.
“You folks are the first ones to respond to our loved ones, ” La Benz said.
Out of 14 EMS ambulances, six new ones cost about $377,000 each. The eight refurbished and remounted rigs cost about $250,000 each. The CORE Sprinter vans cost $304,347 each, while the AmbuBus cost $650,000, EMS officials said.
The total cost for the new fleet is over $5.5 million, officials said.
At the event, EMS Chief of Operations Jeff Zuckernick told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that refurbishing old ambulances—with many reaching 250,000 to 350,000 miles—can save taxpayers about $120,000 per rig, “which means then we can purchase more ambulances.”
“Our fleet was well past its due date, and this comes as a blessing, ” he said, adding that city and county ambulances typically last six to eight years, though some can reach 10 years old “at the extreme.”
Besides these new ambulances, Zuckernick said there are more city ambulances in service. “There’s 23 ambulances in service during the daytime, 21 ambulances at night, ” he explained. “We have a rapid-response vehicle … that’s during the daytime. We have four district chiefs that are always running calls, too.”
“So these (new ) ambulances are mostly going to replace the 23 ambulances that are on the road right now, ” he said. “And then the 23 that are on the road right now will go into reliever or backup status.”
The city, according to Zuckernick, ships its old ambulances to Braun Custom Ambulances in Washington state. There the company remounts the vehicles’ boxes—the portion of the ambulance containing medical equipment, stretchers and first aid supplies—then ships the completed vehicle back to Oahu.
“Four are on the way right now, ” he added, “and we have budgeted eight more ambulances next year.”
Ireland, whose Council renomination in April to a second four-year term as head of HESD, which includes the paramedics division, initially faced months of vocal opposition.
Opponents to Ireland’s appointment—largely former EMS workers—leveled complaints and allegations about low morale, chronic understaffing, employee favoritism and frequent resignations during his directorship that allegedly affected the timely response of ambulances to emergencies on Oahu.
But at the Council’s April 16 meeting, Ireland told the panel his continued leadership at EMS would improve and advance the paramedic service well into the city’s future. He said that work included purchasing more ambulances to reduce lengthy response times to 911 calls.
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