T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK When the Cumberland Trail Fire District heads out on an emergency call with its new ambulance.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Cumberland Trail Fire District got a new Christmas addition in the form of a brand new ambulance.

“It’s the Dodge Ram 4500 heavy duty, four-wheel-drive,” Lt. Daniel Grady said.

Grady said the department took possession of the vehicle last Friday. He said crews have been busy, and the public will be seeing more of the ambulance on the road. Grady said the cost was about $168,000.

“Our fiscal officer does a good job budgeting so that every four or five years we can get a new ambulance,” he said, pointing out the various accessories. “It’s got the air-lift, the liquid spring suspension in the back.”

He said the time had come for a replacement.

“The maintenance budget for (the prior ambulance) started to get more than the actual value of the ambulance was, so that’s why we went to a new ambulance,” he said.

The old model is a 2013 Chevy. The district has had it for six years and has put well over 100,000 miles on it.

“We wanted the bigger chassis so we could get the better suspension on it, so we went with the Dodge. Plus, we can have it serviced locally through Thomas Dodge Jeep,” he said. “We like to keep business in the district if we can.”

He said it will have the same versatility as the earlier model.

“All medical calls including motor vehicle accidents and we do take an ambulance on fire calls also for any civilian or firefighter that would be injured,” he said. “This one’s a little bigger than what it’s replacing. One of the few complaints that we do get from the public is the ride in the back isn’t very smooth. That’s why we went with the bigger chassis so we could get a better suspension to hopefully alleviate that ride.”

“We put it in service last Saturday. It’s already got more than 1,000 miles,” he said, adding that this year’s emergency calls have superseded last year’s. As of Thursday, the district had gone on 3,170 calls in 2019. “We’ll do about 200 more than last year.”

Grady said the next purchase probably will be a rescue engine in about a year. The fleet stands at four ambulances, three engines, a ladder truck a brush truck, and the chief’s vehicle. The district is looking to selling the old ambulance.

Grady also said the department had an uneventful Christmas. He recommended changing smoke alarm batteries regularly.

“Typically when we change our clocks we advise changing the battery in your smoke detectors,” he said.