North Adams Ambulance Adds New Vehicle
 North Adams Ambulance Service has added a fifth ambulance to its fleet. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The North Adams Ambulance Service has welcomed a new ambulance to the fleet.
General Manager John Meaney Jr. said the new unit has been on the road since early October and has taken a lot of stress off the other units.
"It's always nice to jump into a new unit especially with the miles we have been putting on them going down to Berkshire Medical Center," Meaney said. "The other units were getting tired so it is nice to have a newer unit to kind of take that load on."
The 2014 Chevy C3500 series, made by McCoy Miller and purchased from Yankee Fire and Rescue, cost $122,000 and will be the nonprofit organization's fifth ambulance.
Meaney said the service was due for a new ambulance and this one was purchased before North Adams Regional Hospital closed.
"We were due for a replacement unit, and we actually ordered this before the hospital closed just as our normal replacement cycle," he said. "We had to lease a unit in the interim while this was being built."
Meaney said the ambulance is a standard unit. He said the only difference between the new ambulance and the old ones is the chevron on the back.
"It is added safety when you are on the scene on the side of the road you stand out so people don't go right into the back end," he said. "Otherwise it is pretty much the standard unit."
Meaney said the new ambulance will serve as the primary unit in the fleet for the first 10,000 miles.
"It has been running as our frontline primary unit," Meaney said. "We are going to put 10,000 miles on it then we will put it toward the backside of our lineup. We just want to get the kinks out of it."
Meaney said they are also going to send out an ambulance to be remounted and receive a new chassis. This will save the service $30,000.
Tags: ambulance service, NAAS, North Adams ambulance,
