NEW YORK — Thanks to generous donations from the community, a volunteer ambulance squad that covers Central Park will put two new ambulances into service to replace units destroyed by a fire in November, 2014.
Central Park Medical Unit President Rafael Castellanos thanked the generosity of many people, and said he was overwhelmed by the support.
“We have been extremely fortunate, because [of] the outpouring from the community, that it actually came so fast,” Castellanos told WABC.
Two of the squad’s three ambulances were totaled when the fire tore through a five-story parking garage, damaging dozens of vehicles.
“When you lose two-thirds of your fleet, it really makes a difference in your response time,” he said.
The service responds to about 1,000 calls per year at the park. Donations from the community raised nearly $200,000 to replace each of the vehicles that burned. Funds from many private donors, along with large contributions from The Central Park Conservancy and the Edward Benenson Foundation, were enough to purchase the new vehicles six months after the fire.
“Because of the important work that [the] service offers to Central Park, there was no concern that they wouldn’t be able to raise the money,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver. “And they were successful raising it through gifts.”