Highland (MA) EMS crew members and their families stage in front of their new AEV Type 1 ambulance. (Photo courtesy of Highland EMS)
By Alan M. Petrillo
American Emergency Vehicles (AEV) has delivered a Type 1 Traumahawk Medium Duty advanced life support (ALS) Ambulance to Highland (MA) EMS, which will run as one of its two front-line ambulances.
Randy Barr, director of sales for AEV, says the Traumahawk is built on a Freightliner M2 two-door cab and 4×2 chassis with a body that’s 172-inches-long and 96-inches-wide with 72 inches of headroom. Barr points out that the rig has a 6-inch body drop skirt, a door forward design on the curbside, a hot/cold weather insulation package in the body, an Arctic Wedge compressor, and a secondary air conditioning compressor with an Activ Tek air purification system in the patient compartment.
Dave Ameral, sales representative for Massachusetts for Professional Vehicle Corp., who sold the AEV Type 1 to Highland EMS, says the door forward design allow for a ALS cabinet stack at the head of the squad bench so that critical equipment is within arm’s reach of the medic without having to stand up or un-belt. Ameral notes that the Traumahawk has a CPR seat on the road side interior wall, an attendant’s seat with a built-in child safety seat at the head of the cot, and twin seat on the squad bench, all protected by Per4Max® four-point safety harnesses.
Ameral points out that Highland EMS is a private non-profit agency formed 20 years ago by six towns in Massachusetts that were providing emergency medical services to their respective districts. “Highland started out with an ambulance donated by a volunteer fire department and ran out of the fire department’s station for a number of years,” he says. “Then they received funding so they could construct their own building, and now run two front-line ambulances, with one in reserve. The agency is overseen by a board of directors with one member from each of the six towns, plus an EMS director.”
Barr says the new Highland rig has a VMux electrical system, a Vanner Lifesine inverter, a Stryker PowerLOAD fixture, an extra-wide CPR seat, custom interior and exterior compartment configuration to accommodate the department’s equipment, electronic door locks, five sizes of glove boxes over the squad bench (instead of the typical three), a backup camera, and a Whelen electronic siren with Federal Signal speakers.
Lighting on the Traumahawk includes backlit interior cabinet lighting, ROM DuroLumen ultraviolet lighting in the interior dome lights, Whelen Super LED M6 and M9 LED warning lights, TecNiq LED underbody ground lighting, and Whelen M9 LED scene lighting.
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.
