I. RECOMMENDATION:
Fire Chief and Interim City Manager recommend approving the attached purchase order from Emergency Vehicle Group (EVG) for one (1) Remount of an existing 2016 Fire Department Ambulance.
II. BACKGROUND:
We currently have six (6) Wheeled Coach light-duty ambulances, and one (1) medium duty on order, that make up the bulk of our fleet. Except for the one ambulance purchased in 2023, by the City of Huron, four (4) ambulances have excessively high mileage and continue developing increasing mechanical problems. Currently, we have two ambulances out of service that are waiting for a motor and a transmission replacement. The current mileage of our fleet is:
1. M251- 2019 Ford F450 – 259,102 miles
2. M252- 2019 Ford F450 – 238,599 miles (OOS)
3. M253- 2016 Ford F450 – 370,190 miles (remount FY 24/25)
4. M254- 2016 Ford F450 – 362,877 miles (remount FY 25/26)
5. M255- 2022 Ford E350 – 79,476 miles (OOS)
6. M256- 2023 Ford F450 – 92,661 miles (Huron purchased)
7. M257- 2025 Freightliner- Order 11/2023, Delivery 09/2025.
M251, M253, and M256 are the three running every day with M254 as the backup. M254 has a timing chain cover leak and has to go to the dealership once we get one of the OOS ambulances back in service, but can be used in emergencies.
In the past, the only option was to purchase a new ambulance. Recently, EVG has begun to offer a remount service where they take an existing ambulance and outfit with a new chassis and mount the existing box. This reduces the cost significantly and the time to take delivery from up to two years to six months. The remount would be M253, the 2016 with 370,190 miles on it. The Department had already been working on an ambulance replacement plan to remount an ambulance every fiscal year. Unfortunately, having multiple ambulances out of service has sped up the need to do one immediately because it will still take six months to get back.
III. DISCUSSION:
This items is being brought before council at this time rather than mid year or waiting until next fiscal year for a number of reasons. The Out of Service ambulances went down after mid-year was completed. With two of our front line ambulances out of service, we are utilizing our backups, the highest mileage ambulances, in their place. One of the ambulances has a timing cover issue that has to go in for service, but can be used for emergencies according to the city mechanic.
Staff had originally requested two ambulance remounts for the FY 25-26 budget at a cost of $480,000. This approval for this fiscal year will eliminate $240,000 from that request. The timeline for a remount will take six months, and any additional ambulances that go down mechanical will reduce our fleet to three with no backups. In the event of no backups, we will have to shut down Huron, which could lead to loss revenue.
The Department had budgeted $250,000 in OES revenue and exceeded that by approximately $350,000 with expected revenue close to $600,000. Because that excess was unexpected revenue, it could be used for this item with no cost to the General Fund.
EVG has been a supplier of ambulances to Coalinga Fire for the last four purchases and have met or exceeded our expectations. We would like to continue to use EVG as our sole source provider of emergency equipment. EVG has informed us that as of April 1, 2025, the lead time for a new ambulance build has increased from 12-18 months to 24 months, minimum. EVG has NO ambulances available for immediate purchase and continually receives requests for future ambulance build reservations. In addition, the cost of a new ambulance and equipment is expected to increase an additional 10% to $445,000.
By doing a remount, the cost will be approximately 240,000 and take around 6-8 months once the chassis is received. The Chassis will be a brand new 2025 Ford F-450 and can be ordered and delivered within 4-6 weeks once the PO is signed. It will take approximately 6 months to complete the remount. The remount includes re-painting the box to match the chassis and all warranties are included as a new build. The Fleet Maintenance Battalion Chief has researched the quality of remounts compared to new builds and sees no reason not to do a remount. Many other agencies are looking at remounts due to the rising cost of new builds. We see remounts being the future of ambulance replacements.
IV. ALTERNATIVES:
1. Do not approve the remount and we will request to do two in FY 25/26.
V. FISCAL IMPACT:
The cost of the remount will come from unexpected, unfunded revenue from OES reimbursements. The Fire Department budgeted $250,000 in revenue and to date we are at $575,000 with $600,000 projected by end of FY with three payments still outstanding. There will be no added cost to the current budgeted General Fund expenditures. |