More than 70 percent of its responses are for emergency medical service, and on Friday, December 11th, the Baltimore County Fire Department is placing into service eight new state-of-the-art medic units designed to improve both patient care and crew safety.
The ambulances, purchased at a total cost of $1.6 million from DPC Emergency Equipment (www.dpcemergency.com), are built on a 2009 Freightliner M2 chassis with a Wheeled Coach box. Wheeled Coach is one of the largest ambulance manufacturers in the world.
The units will be placed into service at seven of the county’s fire stations: Station 1 (Towson), Station 7 (Essex), Station 13 (Woodlawn) – which is receiving two ambulances , Station 17 (Texas), Station 55 (Perry Hall), Station 56 (Franklin, and Station 60 (Parkton). The ambulances replace older units now operating from these stations.
Among the new features on these ambulances is reflective red/yellow striping on the rear, a relatively new fire industry standard, designed to help identify the unit as an emergency vehicle as oncoming traffic approaches at an incident. Also new for Baltimore County ambulances is a built-in intercom system which will allow the patient care provider to remain in constant communication when necessary with the driver while en route to the hospital. Finally, the patient compartments are larger than the industry standard, which provides additional area for storing equipment as well as more room for patient care.
Of the 113,563 incidents BCoFD crews responded to in 2008, 83,011 were EMS related.
For more information:
DPC Fire Equipment: www.dpcemergency.com
Baltimore County Fire Department: www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/fire/index.html
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