American Emergency Vehicles built this Type 1 Traumahawk ambulance on a 2024 Ford F-550 4×4 chassis for Kearney (MO) Fire & Rescue Protection District. (Photos courtesy of American Response Vehicles.)
By Alan M. Petrillo
Kearney (MO) Fire & Rescue Protection District decided to replace an ambulance and chose to change to a Type 1 rig instead of the medium duty commercial chassis ambulance it had been running.
Braden Vomund, Missouri/Iowa regional sales manager for American Response Vehicles (ARV), who sold the new ambulance to Kearney, says the department switched over from a medium duty rig built on a Freightliner commercial chassis to a Type 1 ambulance built on a Ford F-550 4×4 chassis. “Kearney told us they made the change because it was easier to get maintenance work done on a Type 1 chassis than on a medium duty chassis,” Vomund points out. “The truck committee did a great job with designing the new rig, and they let the ambulance crews identify what they wanted in the new ambulance, which turned out to be a similar interior compared with their prior rig.”
The Kearney Type 1 has a door-forward design on the patient module.
Kevin Pratt, Kearney’s chief, says the department chose American Emergency Vehicles (AEV) to build a Type 1 Traumahawk on a 2024 Ford F-550 4×4 chassis, with a door forward design instead of the traditional curb side door setup. The department also chose to go with a 6.7-liter diesel engine in the ambulance because it was much easier and faster to get a diesel chassis than a gasoline driven chassis.
All seating positions in the Kearney rig are protected by Per4Max four-point harnesses.
Pratt points out that the department’s two medium duty commercial chassis ambulances being retired had been purchased in 2013 and were having mechanical issues over the last couple of years which put a strain on the department’s resources. “We had run Ford chassis Type 1 ambulances in the past and decided to go back to that chassis,” he says. “We also nearly duplicated the interior layout of our medium duty rigs, except for the door forward design, which allowed for a small cabinet at the head of the squad bench and to allow medics to keep their EMS bags in a cabinet on the wall behind the front passenger seat to the right of the curb side door on the module.”
The AEV-built Type 1 Traumahawk has an Arctic Wedge condenser on the front of the body, and also a 120-volt air conditioning/heating system with an additional compressor.
The layout of the Kearney patient module interior as viewed from the attendant’s seat.
Randy Barr, director of sales for AEV, says the patient module on Kearney’s new rig is 176-inches long, 96-inches wide, and has 72-inches of headroom, along with rear tow eyes and diamond plate embossed running boards. The Type 1 Traumahawk has a Liquid Spring rear suspension, an Arctic Wedge condenser on the front of the body, a 120-volt air conditioning/heating system with an additional compressor, LED lighted skirt rails, LED underbody lights, Whelen LED warning lighting and LED Pioneer scene lights, a Vanner LifeSine inverter, a Kussmaul 20-amp auto eject, and a Zico electric oxygen tank lift.
The Kearney patient module is set up to take a Stryker PowerLOAD and Power COT.
Barr adds that the new Kearney ambulance also has a Federal Signal traffic advisor, an AutoGuard anti-theft system, a rear backup camera, a patient area camera for the driver to view the interior of the module, dual switch panels on the left and right sides of the interior, and Per4Max four-point seat belt harnesses on all four seating positions (CPR seat, attendant seat, and two squad bench seats). The rig also has solid surface countertops, a Stryker PowerLOAD system, a KnoxBox vault, and Whelen dual tone and Howler sirens and two air horns.
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.
