The San Francisco Fire Department has purchased 19 ambulances that enable the agency to remount the body onto a new chassis in the future rather than replacing the entire vehicle.

The ambulances, which will bolster the city's emergency response services, cost $154,000 each, reports the San Francisco Appeal.

With this new design, the existing body can be refurbished and mounted to a new chassis when the vehicle requires replacement, which would cost less than half the cost of a new vehicle. The new vehicles expand the ambulance fleet to 53 vehicles.

The Palm Beach County, Fla., Fire Department also remounts ambulance bodies. The department has already refurbished one truck and has scheduled three more this fiscal year.