The Cleveland (OH) Division of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) receives around 125,000 emergency calls per year and responds to 110,000 of them using 35 ambulances, both front-line and spares. The agency operates 25 EMS rigs during the daytime and 21 at night, running a 12-hour rotation, staffed by 230 paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMT).

Jeffrey Brown, commissioner of motor vehicle maintenance for Cleveland’s Department of Public Works, says Cleveland EMS has been using the Freightliner M2 chassis since the early 2000s, and after seeing Horton’s safety offerings of the Horton Occupant Protection System (HOPS) and MBrace it decided to give the Horton a try. “We were so pleased with our first Horton that we ordered two more that will be delivered in the second quarter of 2027,” Brown points out.

Horton Emergency Vehicles built this Type 1 ambulance on a Freightliner M2 106 Plus extended cab and chassis for Cleveland (OH) EMS. (Photos courtesy of Atlantic Emergency Solutions.)

The new rig is nearly identical to what the department has had in the past, Brown adds, although it uses a more advanced electrical system with touch-screen choices instead of rocker switches and also a custom Buckstop bumper. “We have a significant number of accidents, and custom bumpers were costly and caused greater time out of service, while the Buckstop bumper can be removed and replaced pretty quickly,” he says.

The new rig has a Golight LED remote-control spotlight on top of the cab.

Jonathon Wearstler, Cleveland EMS commander, says the new Horton’s extended cab, besides the walk-through to the patient box, has a small bench seat where medics can work on reports when they are dynamically stationed in the field waiting to be dispatched to a call. “The bench seat also is great when we are training an individual, or have an onboarding employee or other individual like a ride-along student, a federal agent, or Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) personnel,” he says.

The rig has dual-color chevron lighting at the rear consisting of 12-inch LED light strips, five on each side of the rear doors.

Dave Marshall, director of sales for Horton Emergency Vehicles, says the Cleveland rig is Horton’s Type 1 623 model built on a Freightliner M2 106 Plus extended cab and chassis on a 203-inch wheelbase, with a 173-inch walk-through patient module that has 72 inches of headroom. The Type 1 is powered by a Cummins 350-horsepower (hp) L9 engine, paired with an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission.

Marshall points out that the new Horton for Cleveland EMS has a Cool-Tech® I air conditioning condenser, an air ride front suspension, a LiquidSpring rear suspension, an Onspot automatic tire chain system, and a Buckstop front bumper.

The cab on the new Cleveland EMS Horton Type 1 ambulance.

Casey Walker, ambulance division regional vice president of sales for Atlantic Emergency Solutions, who sold the Type 1 Horton to Cleveland EMS, says the rig has aluminum diamond plate at the recessed curbside door stepwell, Webasto heater unit in the curbside rear compartment, an enhanced insulation package in the patient box, and additional sound proofing and an acoustic enhancement package.

Wearstler notes that the Onspot tire chains will be a big help in snowy Cleveland during the winter months. “We can get some pretty severe weather here where our medics get stuck on a scene or can’t make it to a scene because of the snow,” he says. “Having Onspot tire chains has given us very good success in getting our rigs to the scene. Also, the Webasto auxiliary heating unit helps keep the patient module from freezing when the truck is turned off.”

The interior of the rig has a Stryker PowerLOAD system for use with the Stryker PowerPRO XT cot.

The inside of the patient module has gray granite solid surface countertops, a Stryker PowerLOAD system with a Stryker Power-PRO XT cot, and the HOPS system developed in conjunction with IMMI, Walker notes. HOPS includes: MBrace airbag integration, which builds an airbag directly into a four-point retractable harness system to cushion the head and neck during frontal collisions and rollovers; Per4Max four-point automatic retractors at both the shoulders and hips to keep crew members securely in place while still allowing necessary movement to care for patients; and head protection consisting of inflatable head curtains, tubular structure airbags, and progressive multi-density head foam at critical strike points.

The patient module features Horton’s HOPS safety system with MBrace airbag integration on Per4Max four-point automatic retractors.

Walker adds that the new Horton Type 1 has a SoundOff Signal nFUSE^® LED lightbar, Freightliner wig-wag headlights, SoundOff Signal nFUSE LED emergency warning lights, Whelen OS™ series LED marker lights, a Golight LED remote control spotlight on top of the cab, TecNiq amber LED strip lighting at the base of doors, and chevron-style LED lighting of dual-color red and amber in 12-inch light strips, five on each side of the rear of the body.

ALAN M. PETRILLO is a Tucson, Arizona-based journalist who has served as a newspaper reporter, editor, and magazine writer and is a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Advisory Board. He served 22 years with the Verdoy (NY) Fire Department, including in the position of chief.