First Response Vehicles?

[cf1]

Our Department has just gotten into providing EMS along with a Private EMS service.
The private service has two units in the parish (county) and together they serve about 35,000 people in peak seasons.
We are interested in First-Responders responding to calls due to the fact that the private units sometimes arent even in the parish due to other calls, and the call might be 25 miles from their location. Do any of you have an idea of a Good First response vehicle?(Ex: 1 Ton Dually, Service Body) We are going to try it with our pumpers at first, will this work?

Thanks

[BURNSEMS]

Hello, Our Dept is currently utilizeing a 1961 Chevy Booster For E.M.S. Response, we took One CrossLay off and added Wood Dividers for Back Boards, we Left one 150 ft cross lay for M.V.A., We Took off the 800ft of 2 1/2 and added a Tool Box and Large Equipment Box, thats where we store our Jump Kit A.L.S & B.L.S,ect, and other Med Supplies, we also added various Handtools and Equipment as suggested by folks on this forum, and a 5000 watt gen and Halogen Light Stands,, This vehicle was a reserve that was not used at all and works real well for our purpose, some things to consider, how many calls will you run, What Type of Calls, The majority of ours is Medical and M.V.A, are you wanting Lots of Cribbing ect,Do you respond a engine to all M.V.A. or will it carry water and a preconnect, How many people will you carry to a scene, whats the longest distance to travel,You could easily over Load your Equipment with tools of the Trade so make your choice accordingly..

[chief4102]

cf1;
My dept. uses a Pierce CRV-16 utility style body on a 1 ton duelly Ford chassis. It has worked very well for us. It's heavy enough to carry our medical and extrication equipment. Be careful if you buy a commercial utility body. Most of these have compartments that AREN'T deep enough to hold power extrication tools. Hope this helps. Good luck with your first responce project.
Be Safe
Dan

[phyrngn]

Well, although it may not be the answer that you are looking for, I say that you should take over the ambulance service yourself. Only two ambulances for 35,000 people is reckless and stupid. MY opinion is based on the fact that private services are only around to make money and not care for patients. You obviously care more for the people you serve by wanting to put FR vehicles into place; that shows that you are not in it for the money. Think about this...when you put first responder service in, your private service is making money off of you...and that's not right. Go for the ambulance service.

Please understand that this is only my opinion...I could be wrong.

[jedge168]

My EMS service utilizes currntly 5 Chev Suburbans for paramedic level quick response. This next budget year though, we are getting new Chev 3500 ext cab trucks with utility bodies because of the weight factor of extrication equipment. Depending on the type of equipment being carried by your department there are a multitude of vehicles available to choose from. For a fire department though, I do like the idea of using a mini or midi type pumper so you do have lines and such for MVC's.

[Cap'n L]

We first respond with a 1 ton Chevy truck which we also use for grass/brush fires. It carries 300 gal. water with a booster line, so for MVA's we send an engine if there is a report of a fire. We cover an area that is 6 miles wide by 12 miles long. (This is all rural) At best an ambulance is 6 miles from our station, at worst it may be 30 miles away depending on the number of calls and staffing. We've been responding with this truck for a little over 4 years now,and find it is working out very well. It's very maneuverable and has 4 wheel drive, I have not been on any calls where we were unable to get to our patients.

[Grog]

The area my station served was in a largely retired community so that explains our high % of EMS calls.

The Fire Dept I just moved away from after 5 years in the Dept. had a 1995 Ford Explorer that we bought new. Also had a 1990 Suburban for the ocean rescue boat and for 2nd EMS call. Two engines not needed for EMS. We served a tourist area with four county medic unit in the county(800-900 square miles) and rescue squads respond and sometimes not. 25-55 calls a month and 65% EMS/25% ocean rescue(also concidered EMS by us)/10% fire calls summertime(all estimated), 80% EMS/20% fire wintertime.

Extrication not needed in our district and we sold our equipment to a mutual aid with an engine. All vechicles must drive on beach and no problems. Our next beach north (mutual aid) dept got a matched set late model GMC 4x4 crewcabs with caps on the bed. Both used for ocean rescue and EMS First Responder also.

I'm new here so I hope I didn't ramble too bad.

Good luck.



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[PTFD21]

Our dept. responds with the Engine. If there is additional personnel at Station 1, then our rescue responds.

Some of the other depts. in the area utilize Suburbans or Mini-pumpers. One of the career depts. uses a F-350 with a walkin rescue body.

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ED C.
"Doin' it for lives and property !"
<A HREF="http://www.freeyellow.com/members8/ptfd21/index.htm"" TARGET=_blank>http://www.freeyellow.com/members8/ptfd21/index.htm"</A> Pittsfield Twp. F.D.




[This message has been edited by PTFD21 (edited October 17, 1999).]

[Romania]

All good solutions. My question is, are you going to require this vehicle to perform additional duties (i.e. rescue). If yes I would look into a light to medium duty rescue box. You can put together a lot of stuff on a F450 chassis with a full hieght rescue box of mini-pumper body. If you are only need it for EMS, my vehicle of choice would be a suburban or excersion :-). These make great response vehicles and can carry more than a complete set of ALS equipment. It can also double as a command car for fires.

I would put together two lists. The first would be what you want this aparatus to be able to do. The second list would be what you want it to carry. Once you have that, you should be able to figure out what will work for you. If you have the money, I highly suggest a small international or freightliner 4 door chassis with a short, non-walkin rescue box. It will hold all the EMS and rescue equipment you'll need for most calls, as well as personel. A pump would be nice for MVAs, but you can always add an engine to the assignment for additional manpower and hazard control.

I have an equipement list for first responder vehicles if you are interested.

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Alan Romania, CEP
romania@uswest.net
IAFF Local 3449

My Opinions do not reflect the opnions of the IAFF or Local 3449.

[Animal]

Our company is part of a 6-company volunteer county department, and we are the only company that does not run an ambulance. We do, however, run a 1980 Pierce mini pumper on a ford chassis that has done very well for MVAs and first response for EMS calls. We carry enough immobilization equipment (collars, long boards, blocks, KEDs, etc.) for 2 pt.'s, airway bag, a trauma bag, a portable suction unit, and other misc. odds and ends that get the job done very well. Now that we have an ALS provider around, we're hoping to get funding for ALS equipment.. keeping our fingers crossed :-)

[NRFR/explorer]

I agree with phyrngn! Our city of 27,500 people and we have 3 ambulances and 2 rescues on our FD! In addition to that, we have a private ambulance service that has 4 ambulances and a medic unit! Even with all this, we sometimes find scrounging for a vehicle to respond! It should probably be in your best intrest to look into buying an ambulance!

Joe
MFD

[CEMS33]

In the town EMS Dept that I volunteer with we have First Response with the FD's. We also have fast response vehicles in each of the three zones. The EMS Dept uses Jeep Cherokee's. Some FD's also use them. Others use Suburbans and Tahoe's.
First Response is a great idea. We use FD First Response only on Priority 1 responses. We service about 85,000 people in 60 square miles.
SMM -- Colonie, NY (Town of Colonie EMS)
please feel free to check out my website at http://home.nycap.rr.com/smm33

[RyWfd]

WoW, first response! It only proves itself time and time again! In our department, right now we utilize the engine companies as first reponders. I think this is great! Everything we need, including manpower, is all there at one time. We've got our equipment there all together, plus the added advantage of a safety source.(the engine and additional people at the scene immediatly put more heads together for input.) We look at fire department first response as a safety team. Not only to provide fire, ems, and rescue. But safety. The people involved in a Motor Vehicle Accident may not be injured, but is the scene safe? Oil may be in the roadway, or lines may be down. Fire stations are placed throughout the city for quick response and thats what we provide, for all incidents.
However, our city ISSSS in the process of putting into service a Quick Response Vehicle program. I must question it however because the reasons for putting these QRV's in service is to save wear and tear on the pumpers. But there is only three of these vehicles. Now we will be taking away from the very reason we started this program in the first place. These QRV's will have only the basics in Emergency Med. Equip. and some safety equipment. They will also respond with the Engines in the houses they are stationed with, further reducing the "first response" that they were intended for. We place less equipment and manpower on the scene and the personnel are acting by themselves. They are limited to a few things at once and have less of each other to rely on. Furthermore, if they do need assitance, then an engine has to respond anyhow to back them up.
So, decide on what it is you want to accomplish in your program. Then go from there. If youve only one or two engines. You wouldnt want to tie them up with Medical calls you know.
Ry

[smoke1713]

The two departments that i am on in southern west virginia use suv type vehicles. we run alot of 1st resp. calls. one truck is a 1992 chevy s10 4 dr. 4wd. the back has shelving and compartmentation for our stuff. the other is a 1998 jeep cherokee set-up the same way. small, rugged room for 5 and quick. we also have a suburban that we run 2nd due on 1st resp calls, we can also transport pts on ambulance stretchers in it if needed due to rugged terrain or snow-slickened roads. engines don,t work well here due to mountainous roads and speed is essential plus it takes them out of service if you have a fire. be safe!!

[webteam]

Originally posted by CEMS33:
In the town EMS Dept that I volunteer with we have First Response with the FD's. We also have fast response vehicles in each of the three zones. The EMS Dept uses Jeep Cherokee's. Some FD's also use them. Others use Suburbans and Tahoe's.
First Response is a great idea. We use FD First Response only on Priority 1 responses. We service about 85,000 people in 60 square miles.
SMM -- Colonie, NY (Town of Colonie EMS)
please feel free to check out my website at http://home.nycap.rr.com/smm33

[webteam]

TEST

Originally posted by CEMS33:
In the town EMS Dept that I volunteer with we have First Response with the FD's. We also have fast response vehicles in each of the three zones. The EMS Dept uses Jeep Cherokee's. Some FD's also use them. Others use Suburbans and Tahoe's.
First Response is a great idea. We use FD First Response only on Priority 1 responses. We service about 85,000 people in 60 square miles.
SMM -- Colonie, NY (Town of Colonie EMS)
please feel free to check out my website at http://home.nycap.rr.com/smm33

[OCFireEXP]

we just send whatever unit is closest, because all our units are staffed by a medic. if the TC is a cut and rescue, or a TC W. injuries, we pull the closest in truck too, because they have the jaws and stuff.
for a fast response medic vehicle, we use ford E-350 vans. they are good, but ill take a nice ford F-350 super duty crew cab commercial bed any day of the week! they are the bomb!
put a nice big disel in there, and dont overload it, and youre gonna smoke!


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Joe Nassetta

-"I run through the gates of hell so you don't have to."

[smitheps]

Buy a used ambulance and man it as a QRS unit. Take the stretcher out and put more seats into it so it can be used to transport people around fire ground, to rehab, or to other incidents where your other apparatus has already left the barn. You will have a vehicle that is already designed to carry ems equipement that will probably have enought space to put a second rescue tool on or possibly a small cascade.....Just an idea I have seen it done several times and it seems to work well. Otherwise, just buy a crew cab 1/2 or 3/4 pickup and put a SWAB box on it.