Syracuse FD Light Rescue Vehicles

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Part of the decision to move away from the assignment of an ambulance-style apparatus to Rescue 2 recognized that there was still value in having an ambulance in the fleet. It was useful for transporting our own firefighters, and also to serve as a backup for the local private ambulance company. That company, Eastern Ambulance, had been bought out by Rural/Metro in the mid-1990s, and more recently has now become AMR. There are occasions when we are asked to have an ambulance on standby for major events, VIP visits, etc., and we would rather have control of the situation ourselves than to rely on any outside agencies. For that reason, we continue to maintain an ambulance in the fleet to this day. The 2000 Ford/Wheeled Coach unit was transferred to become Mini 3, the only SFD company that runs an ambulance as its second piece instead of one of the First Response Vehicles. When a new ambulance was ordered in 2004 (a Ford E-350 Type III/MedicMaster) it went directly to Station 3, with the radio designation A-3. At that time the 2000 Ford F-350/Wheeled Coach went to Station 17, where it operated as a second ambulance for a brief time before it was decided to just keep it there as a spare.  When a new ambulance replaced A-3 in 2014 )another Ford E-350 Type III), the 2004 Medicmaster stayed at 3's as a spare and the 2000 Wheeled Coach was disposed of.

 

Here's a photo of the 2000 Ford F-350/Wheeled Coach late in its life, assigned to Station 17. It was undecided at that point whether or not to still call the ambulances "Minis" or not . . . and even though it is labeled Mini 17 in the picture, it wasn't called that for long.

 



 

This is the 2004 Ford E-350/MedicMaster Type III purchased for A-3:

 



 

The current A3 is a 2014 Ford E-450/Wheeled Coach Citimedic Type III. It was a stock unit and the decision was made not to paint it.