The Prince George's County Fire Department has begun replacing its fleet of aging EMS vehicles by adding nine new ambulances and purchasing 12 more, an agency spokesman told GovernmentFleet.com.

The department plans to continue replacing 10-15 ambulances per year and maintain a fleet of 75 county-owned transport units, said Mark Brady, the agency's public information officer. An additional 22 volunteer-owned ambulances also serve the county.

New ambulances have begun to arrive from the initial nine purchased with fiscal-year 2014 funds at about $250,000 per vehicle. The additional 12 come out of fiscal-year 2015 funds.

The medium-duty units arrive from Wheeled Coach, which added the ambulance body to a 2014 Freightliner M2 chassis, emergency equipment and Stryker MX Power-Pro cot. A Cummins ISB engine mated to an Allison 2200 EVS automatic transmission powers each ambulance, generating 240 horsepower.

Other equipment includes Alcoa aluminum wheels, a Wheeled Coach Type 9 170 body, Wheeled Coach Coolbar A/C condenser, double-wide street-side bench seat, OTE International 19515A mobile medical cabinet, Safety Vision color back-up camera, Safety Vision SafeDrive MiniDVR event recording system, and Vanner 20-1050CUL 1,000-watt inverter

The lighting and siren package includes two Whelen 295SLS1 electronic sirens with mechanical tone; Whelen SA122FMP siren speakers; Combination Powerarc and Whelen M Series LED warning lights; Tecniq E960 LED auxiliary back-up lights; Whelen Pioneer PSL1R5 LED scene lights on each side and the rear of the body; and Tecniq E07 LED dome lights.

Wheeled Coach added custom lettering and graphics that included the unit's motto: "Safety First. Everyone Goes Home."

The new units replace 2006 and 2007 Freightliner/MedicMaster medium-duty ambulances with an average of 150,000 miles and 350,000 equivalent miles by engine hours.

By Paul Clinton