American Emergency Vehicles (AEV) built this Type 1 Traumahawk ambulance on a 2022 Ford F-550 4×4 chassis for Howell Township (NJ) Police Emergency Medical Services. (Photos courtesy of VCI Emergency Vehicle Specialists, except where noted.)
By Alan M. Petrillo
American Emergency Vehicles (AEV) has delivered a Type 1 Traumahawk ambulance to Howell Township (NJ) Police Emergency Medical Services.
Peggy Doyle, emergency medical services coordinator for Howell Township, says emergency medical services is a civilian division of the police department in Howell Township. “We have two supervisors and 35 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics who work as EMTs that staff our four basic life support (BLS) ambulances,” Doyle says. “We cover a suburban and rural township of 64 square miles that has a population of 70,000.”
The AEV rig for Howell Township has TecNiq LED warning and scene lighting.
Doyle notes that the EMS division is a relatively new agency, having been established 18 years ago. “We’ve been slowly growing as a department, and as the town becomes more populated we found we needed to add another ambulance to our fleet,” she says. “We now have five ambulances and run four of them every day, and have the use of the Howell Volunteer First Aid and Rescue Squad volunteers if the need arises.”
Howell Township’s new ambulance has air horns under the front bumper, a Truck Defender front custom push bar, and Bumper Master grill guards.
Jeffrey Herzog, regional sales manager for VCI Emergency Vehicle Specialists, who sold the AEV Type 1 to Howell Township, says Howell Township is a previous customer of VCI and contacted VCI about a new rig. “With supply chain issues affecting everyone, we were lucky that we had this chassis on order so we were able to modify the truck on the production line to meet the needs of Howell Township,” Herzog points out.
The black and white color scheme on the Howell Township ambulance gives the rig a distinctive look.
He says the AEV Traumahawk is built on a 2022 Ford F-550 4×4 Super Duty chassis powered by a V-8 gasoline engine, with a Truck Defender front custom push bar and Bumper Master grill guards. “The truck has air horns under the front bumper, an Opticom system for traffic movement, and TecNiq LED warning and scene lighting,” Herzog observes.
Howell Township medical staffers load a Stryker PowerCOT into the rear of their new AEV ambulance. (Photo courtesy of Howell Township Police Emergency Medical Services.)
Herzog notes that the AEV rig has an Activek ultraviolet (UV) disinfectant system that continually runs inside the HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system, a Stryker PowerLOAD and PowerCOT system, a solid surface interior, a locking mount rack for a Lifepak 15, an extended CPR seating position, an attendant’s seat with an integral child’s safety seat, and dual seating on the squad bench on the curb side interior. All seating positions are protected by Per4Max four-point safety harnesses that allow medics to access a patient and equipment without unbuckling.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Ariz.-based journalist, the author of three novels and five non-fiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment editorial advisory board. He served 22 years with Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including the position of chief.
