The Mehlville Fire Protection District Board of Directors approved a plan Sept. 22 to spend around $281,000 on a 2022 ambulance.
Fire Chief Brian Hendricks said it was crucial to get the plan approved quickly to avoid falling further down a waiting list.
“We understood the longer we waited the chances of us getting an ambulance at all next year was becoming highly unlikely,” Hendricks said. “With the amount of ambulances we have on the street and the amount of calls we run, we can’t go without purchasing an ambulance.”
The urgency comes from a reallocation of Ford F450 and F550 chassis to retail, making it difficult for ambulance manufacturers to obtain them.
Hendricks said the ambulance could be delivered by the end of next year depending on how deliveries go. The F550 chassis costs $50,230 and the ambulance costs $231,000 to be paid upon delivery.
