Clay Approves Proposal For Rescue Ambulance

Clay County set to get a new rescue ambulance for its emergency services.

EMA Director Kyle Haney said the fleet will rotate once vehicles reach about 200,000 miles.

“We try to cycle out ambulances as needed,” Haney said. “They get updated on mileage, especially with us not having a hospital right now we’re taking all of our transport out of county so the mileage adds up quite a bit for us.”

Haney said when the fleet is rotated, vehicles will get upgrades as needed such as remounts. He said sometimes, like in this case, the department will need to purchase a new vehicle.

Haney said the typical ambulance costs between $200,000 to $250,000. He said depending on specs, some ambulances can cost up to $500,000. The county commission approved a purchase proposal through Safe Industries. Ambulance Regional Manager Jeff LeBeda said they expect the unit to arrive hopefully by March 2024.

“What I will tell you is that our purchase handler, we own about 70 percent of the ambulance market in the world, so most of those ambulances are coming to us before anybody else,” LeBeda said. “(…) As soon as we put a government contracted number, Ford has guaranteed that those [ambulances] go to the top of the line.”