BATH — Bath councilors unanimously approved the purchase of a new ambulance Wednesday to replace one of the city’s three ambulances.
The ambulance cost about $263,000, $17,000 under what the city budgeted for it in its 2021 capital account. However, Lawrence Renaud, Bath fire and rescue chief, said the department purchased a hydraulic stretcher for the new ambulance, bringing the total up to the full $280,000 budgeted.
“I appreciate the support we get from the citizens and councilors,” said Renaud. “Bath keeps our equipment in top shape and there’s something to be said for that.”
Renaud said the city’s ambulances are on a replacement cycle and need to be replaced every nine or 10 years.
Although rescue calls were down in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Renaud said calls have slowly returned to normal.
“Call volume dropped about 16.81% from February to July,” he said. “We were about 400 calls below our expected call numbers, but we’ve returned to around six or seven calls per day.”
The department responded to 2350 calls in 2020.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.