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Solon purchasing new ambulance
(by Sue Reid - September 22, 2011)
Solon purchasing new ambulance
By SUE REID
Solon City Council's safety and public properties committee approved preparing legislation last week for the purchase of a replacement ambulance for the Solon Fire Department at a cost of slightly more than $223,000.
City Council also gave its approval Monday.
Assistant Fire Chief Steve Shebeck told the committee that the request for the ambulance was according to the replacement schedule for the department's fleet. Ambulances are replaced every eight to 10 years, and there are four ambulances on the fleet. Three are run on the front line and one is used as a backup and rotated in for maintenance.
Mr. Shebeck said it was disappointing that this year's purchase represents a 12 percent increase over the last purchase in 2008.
He said that is attributed to rising costs associated with the chassis, which is the basically the front end. As a result, the department will assess the chassis it uses for their fleet to see if there is a more cost-effective alternative, he said.
"We're going to go back and review our specifications for the chassis and see if we come up with another chassis that may be cheaper in cost, but not in quality," Mr. Shebeck said.
He said that cost of truck chassis are continually going up because of changes in diesel emissions associated with Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The first version came out in 2007 and a more stringent version in 2010.
"We expect another revision to come out in the near future, and they will make it more stricter, which adds more cost," Mr. Shebeck said.
The current delivery time for the ambulance is approximately eight months, he said. Solon utilized the Ohio-State Term Schedule contract, which no longer requires formal bidding of the department specification for the purchase of the ambulance, but affords the department the opportunity to select a supplier from the contract list.
Solon will purchase the ambulance from Horton Emergency Vehicles, located in Grove City.
The units the department currently has came from this manufacturer, Mr. Shebeck noted, and they have served the department well with no major faults and lower-than-expected maintenance costs.
In addition to the ambulances, the Solon department's fleet comprises four fire engines and a ladder truck. There is also a utility vehicle, which is a command car.
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