Copyright 2006 Albuquerque Journal
By ROZANNA M. MARTINEZ
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
Technologically advanced emergency vehicles with interiors resembling an “emergency room” are now part of the Sandoval County Fire Department.
“This is real state-of-the-art equipment,” fire chief Jon R. Tibbetts said. “It looks like an emergency room inside. The lighting is very good. It is very ergonomic and there’s lots of room.”
The units are expected to be on Sandoval County roads by mid-May, Tibbetts said. Fire personnel must first undergo training to familiarize themselves with the units, Tibbetts said.
The three units, which cost $179,000 each, were purchased through funding from a 2005 fire bond from Sandoval County.
“We bonded part of our quarter-cent fire protection fund,” Tibbetts said.
According to Tibbetts, the county was running out of light duty emergency medical service units. He said the county has been leasing light duty units from the town of Bernalillo.
“Those units can’t carry all the equipment we need,” Tibbetts said. “Those units are literally on their last legs. All of them have over 200,000 miles on them.”
The new units each measure about 25 feet in length, several feet longer than the county’s current units, Tibbetts said. The extra room allows each unit to carry up to three patients for multiple casualty incidents, as well as more firefighting equipment and extraction equipment such as the “jaws of life.”
A compressor foam system, wildland firefighter equipment and gear, firefighter bunker gear and self-breathing apparatuses also will be part of every unit.
The foam system can produce 150 gallons of solution to contain small brush fires and car fires, Tibbetts said.
External pacemakers, blanket warmers and refrigerators are only some of the new units’ features.
The pacemakers are used for patients with heart-related problems and send an electrical impulse that passes through the thorax and causes the heart to contract, Tibbetts said.
Patient care also includes privacy. Unit windows become opaque with the flip of a switch, Tibbetts said.
Drivers still will be able to see out and will have a rear camera that will let them see on a screen what is behind them.