News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Two Putnam County EMS ambulances that were in accidents last year are set to return into the department’s rotation.
Major Rob Clarke said luckily, they have already been able to get one of the ambulances fixed and back into rotation. He said they expect the other one to be fully repaired and ready within the next month.
“Financially insurance has been paying back for that so that’s kind of helped us out on that one, Chassis-wise trying to get that replaced, that has been a difficult situation because of the supply-chain issues we’ve been having nationally,” Clarke said. “There can be anywhere from 12 to 24 month lead time just trying to get a Chassis to get a unit replaced.”
Clarke said both ambulances had been involved in some kind of wreck or rear-end situation on the interstate, but no patients were involved.
Clarke said the loss of the two ambulances put a major strain on the department which typically uses about 18 units in its fleet rotation. He said the most difficult part about being down two chassis is the downtime it takes to get them back.
“Had a little bit of a hard time getting ambulance back,” Clarke said. “But currently we have those two units getting fixed and replaced.”
Clarke said as soon as they them back from the company that is remounting them, they get the ambulances out and licensed and sent to the state. He said the state will then inspect them and make sure everything is good to go before getting them back out on the road.
