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WEST VALLEY CITY — In an effort to save taxpayer money, the West Valley City Fire Department is refurbishing and remounting its ambulances rather than completely replacing them, officials said.
The fire department purchased its fleet of ambulances in 2005, according to public information officer Roxeanne Vainuku. The fleet includes four ambulances and two transport units. As the fleet began to “age out of service,” the fire department began working with the West Valley City fleet maintenance team to remount and recondition the fleet.
When medic ambulance 73 needed of upgrades, the fleet team refurbished the interior and components of the rear-patient area of the ambulance. Then they mounted the refurbished unit onto a new Ford chassis, rather than replacing the entire ambulance.
The process of refurbishing and remounting that one ambulance saved around $75,000 and the vehicle is expected to serve the department for seven more years, Vainuku said. Replacing each ambulance in the fleet would cost about $160,000 to $180,000, as opposed to refurbishing and remounting, which costs between $85,000 and $90,000.
“The savings provided by reusing these ambulances allows for the West Valley City Fire Department to upgrade the medical equipment inside the ambulances to state of the art technology, providing an additional benefit to the residents of West Valley City,” Vainuku said in a news release.
