More than a decade ago, the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department bought a number of ambulances with the idea of replacing the vehicles every six years.
The county still owns a number of them; the oldest is about 17 years old. Others have racked up more than 200,000 miles.
“We dumped a lot of money into ’em just to keep ’em running,” said Danny Benedetti, fleet manager for the department.
Relief for the fleet arrived last week with the first eight of an eventual 70 ambulances to be put into service at stations throughout the county. The $10.5 million replacement program will revamp a stable of ambulances that one official said have served their duty and beyond.
“On one hand, it shows that we do maintain these vehicles extremely well,” said Mark Brady, department spokesman. “On the other hand, it shows we do put a lot of mileage on these vehicles day in and day out.”
The new vehicles will also have a new routine. Instead of assigning an ambulance to one station for its life span, Benedetti said, vehicles will be cycled between busy, high-mileage locations inside the Beltway and lower-usage stations in other parts of the county. The plan should limit vehicles to fewer than 100,000 miles during the five years the county uses the them, which should help retain their value, Benedetti said.
“The ones we’re getting rid of … have over 200,000 miles on them, and they’re worth nothing, virtually,” Benedetti said.
The eight vehicles will be distributed to their stations in the next few days, Benedetti said, with rest of the ambulances being delivered before the end of the year. Benedetti said he’s helped put together a manual to help crews keep the vehicles in good running order.
