According to Houlton Fire Chief Milton Cone, two Houlton paramedics were returning from Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where they had transferred a patient from Houlton Regional Hospital, when the ambulance sideswiped a Maine DOT plow truck shortly after 7 p.m.  

“The ambulance was heading north on I-95 after transferring a patient when they came upon a two MDOT plow trucks,” Cone said. “They passed the first truck, which was plowing the right-hand lane, and when they passed the second truck, which was plowing the passing lane, they struck the plow wing.”

The driver’s side of the ambulance was ripped open, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle. The ambulance entered the median and came to rest on its roof, Cone said.

According to a press release, the new equipment allows them to connect the patient to the CPR compression device and let the machine do CPR perfectly and efficiently for any amount of time, thereby lessening injury to first responders and improving outcomes for individuals in critical situations.

On Feb. 26, Robert Finn of the Matrix Group presented a detailed assessment of the Billerica Fire Department, looking at organizational structure, facility maintenance, and operations. Finn said response time across town did not meet the passing industry standards of less than 5 minutes, 12 seconds. Billerica’s average response time was approximately 5 minutes 53 seconds.