Council Approves Two New Ambulances for County Fleet

Written by Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News

The county’s Public Protection Staff laid out plans to add more staffing and 911 ambulance units to the response fleet, call volume, and services two years ago.

During the County Council meeting Tuesday, staff told the council that the time has come. The council voted unanimously to buy and equip two new ambulances for the fleet.

According to a release, staff to operate the ambulances, will be added in March. And even more, ambulances probably will be needed in the future to continue keeping pace with the call volume, Public Protection Director Joe Pozzo told the council.

“We need to add additional ambulances. This is the first step to, I would say, more in the future,” Pozzo said Tuesday morning. “Because the county is growing.”

The two ambulances will be fully equipped for advanced life support service with medical gear such as cardiac monitors and mechanical CPR devices.

According to Volusia County EMS Director Jason Brady, the addition to the fleet is necessitated by the increase over the past year in workload and the distance that current ambulance units have to travel to calls. County Councilwoman Heather Post said she agreed that the need is there.

“We needed additional ambulances, and we’ve done a lot in the last several years to address the ambulance service,” Post said.

According to Pozzo, one of the new ambulances will be positioned on the east side of the county and one on the west side of the county as current demand, time of day, and the need for transports dictate.

The new ambulance units are anticipated to go into service around May. 1.