Horton Emergency Vehicles built this Type 1 advanced life support (ALS) ambulance on a Freightliner M2 chassis and cab for Calvert County (MD) Fire, Rescue and EMS. (Photos courtesy of FESCO Emergency Sales.)
By Alan M. Petrillo
Calvert County (MD) Fire, Rescue and EMS has added another Horton Emergency Vehicles Type 1 to its fleet of six other Horton rigs, this latest one on a Freightliner chassis and cab.
“We first bought two Horton Emergency Vehicles Type 1 ambulances on Dodge 5500 chassis and cabs a few years ago, and after using them for a while our medics decided they wanted a change in the rigs,” says Lt. Joe Ford, who is in charge of the county’s EMS fleet. “We got a committee together to determine how the medics function in the back of the rigs and redesigned a unit to fit our specific needs. This included keeping medics in their seats while tending to patients and turning one way for medications and the other for IV supplies. After the committee determined what we needed, we standardized all our units.”
The Calvert County rig has a Horton 623 body that’s 74-inches tall and 173-inches long.
Jacqulyn Buckley, dealer sales representative at FESCO Emergency Sales, who sold the new Freightliner Type 1 to Calvert County, says the department’s medics laid out the new ambulance very well to fit their particular needs. “The rig has a door-forward design in the patient box with screening tint in the window for patient privacy,” Buckley observes, “and the squad bench layout has a cabinet to the rear that opens for IV supplies, and another cabinet and counter forward of the bench for other supplies, allowing the medic to stay belted and seating while working on a patient.”
The Horton-built rig has a door forward-design that allows for a squad bench layout with a cabinet to the rear for IV supplies and another cabinet forward of the bench for other medical supplies.
Dave Marshall, director of sales for Horton Emergency Vehicles, points out the Type 1 ambulance is built on a 2024 Freightliner M2 chassis and cab with a Horton 623 body that’s 74-inches tall with a 3-inch drop skirt on each side. Wheelbase on the rig is 175-inches, the patient module is 173-inches long, and the vehicle has a LifeSine inverter, and a Cooltech I 100,000-British thermal unit (BTU) air conditioning condenser, he says.
A view of the IV cabinet area to the rear of the squad bench.
The Calvert County ambulance has a 48-inch wide CPR seat, the Horton Occupant Protection System (HOPS), Per4Max four-point seat belt harnesses on all seating positions, a Horton 360 camera system, restocking cabinets for an easy inventory system and an Activek Health Solutions air purification system, Marshal points out.
The Calvert County ambulance has Horton chevron lighting on the rear beside each entry door, Whelen LED warning lights and a Horton traffic advisor.
The rig has Horton chevron lighting on the rear beside each entry door, a Horton traffic advisor on the back of the rig, Whelen LED warning lights on the front with blackout rings instead of chrome, a 46-inch long HiViz FireTech LED brow light, and two HiViz FireTech LED scene lights on each side of the truck.
ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist, the author of three novels and five nonfiction books, and a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.
