Habersham County received its second long-awaited ambulance last week from Custom Truck & Body Works, Inc.
This unit was remounted onto a new 2023 Dodge Ram 4500 chassis, following the delivery of a Frazer Bilt ambulance on a new 2022 Ford F450 chassis the previous week.
A first for Habersham County EMS
For Habersham County, this is the first Dodge ambulance to be placed in service.
“This new med unit is a Dodge Ram 4500,” said Habersham County Emergency Services Operations Chief Jason Davey. “It is something new for us in the county. Usually, we go with Ford or Chevy, and we’re stepping out to try this Dodge out.”
Davey added that Hall County and Gwinnett County use Dodge and seem to have great success with those. He is hoping the same will happen for Habersham County.
Like the new Ford, the remounted Dodge was purchased through Habersham County’s 1-cent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).
“The SPLOST money with the 1-cent tax goes a long way and helps take the burden off homeowners coming up with the money to buy such vehicles and equipment,” Davey said.
Heavy mileage per year
Habersham County is averaging 60,000 to 75,000 miles per year on each of its six front-line ambulances, with most of that coming from transports to hospitals outside the county, including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville, Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton, and others.
The new front-line ambulance will be stocked, inspected, and placed into service at Cornelia Fire Department Station 2 in the next few weeks, allowing another higher-mileage unit to move to reserve status.
