Louisville EMS receives 3 more refurbished ambulances to update its fleet

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Three more refurbished Louisville Metro ambulances have been delivered to the department’s headquarters on East Broadway.

Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services started upgrading its fleet of 62 ambulances about two years ago, replacing or refurbishing the old gray ones with bright orange ones. There are now a total of 17 upgraded ambulances.

"As ambulances age, naturally, no matter how much maintenance you put into them, at a certain point, they become less and less reliable," said Jeremy Koonce, assistant director of operations at LMEMS. "The truck component of the ambulance was worn out and due for replacement. So in that case, we send them back to the ambulance manufacturer."

Everything gets stripped down, rebuilt and redone.

"Every component is checked to see if it's structurally stable," Koonce said. "If it's not, it's repaired, brought back up to current standards. All the upholstery is replaced, the flooring is replaced. All new paint, and then it gets put onto a brand new truck chassis."

They're also getting brand new computers and replacing the manual stretchers for electric ones.

"The power stretcher completely lifts itself up," Koonce said. "You drive it up to the back of the ambulance. It locks in, and then you push a button and it lifts itself in."

Having electric stretchers will help with the crew members' health and safety.

"It takes a lot of load off the EMTs and paramedics," he said. "One of the biggest causes of lost work is back injuries. This is a real back-saver."

It's safer for patients too, because that stretcher is bolted down to the truck bed.

"These are crash tested to a much higher standard than the older style," Koonce said.

The color change is important for the department as well. The gray and silver ambulances are hard to see sometimes, even with flashing lights.

"We wanted to be more visible and to reduce our risk of accidents," Koonce said. "So we went with the brightest color we could find, which was orange."

Under contract, a new ambulance costs nearly $200,000, and that's just the truck. Refurbishing a truck is less than $150,000.

"Essentially, for every three to four trucks that we refurbish instead of buying a new one, it's enough cost savings to cover the cost of a whole extra truck," Koonce said.

The next three ambulances the department is budgeting for will be brand new.

An ambulance has a life span of about 10 to 20 years or 300,000 to 450,000 miles. Koonce said the department tries to refurbish as many as possible, as long as it's safe to do so.

"To any outside observer that didn't know, it totally appears and functions as a brand new truck," he said, pointing to the newly refurbished ambulance. "And it has a warranty as a brand new truck but saves us a lot of money in the end."

The three newly refurbished trucks still need to be striped and outfitted with equipment and radios. But they should be on the streets in a couple weeks.