Funds to purchase the new vehicles come from Metro’s budget, as it is a self-supporting, county entity, Metro Ambulance Director Clayton Cobler said.

“I can remember when we started out and we paid $32,000, and we thought that was ridiculous,” Cobler said.

The new vehicles will replace two in its current fleet of 18. The two taken out of service will likely be added to the county’s surplus property, Cobler said.

“We got five [ambulances] two years ago, and every one of them has over 200,000 miles on it,” Cobler said.

Cobler said Metro responds to an average of 90 emergency calls per day.

Over time, the price tag for each vehicle continues to increase beyond the initial cost of more than $70,000.

Firefighters are expected to start training on the new equipment this month. The city has purchased an additional four pumper trucks that are expected to arrive in March. 

The fire department is also sporting two high water vehicles, purchased by private donations, according to a news release from the department. 

With the daily wear and tear and harsh weather conditions in Erie, Chief Guy Santone says it's time to update the fleet.  "It's not like driving a car, when these trucks go out they are pushed... they are worked hard,"  Santone expressed the need for a new truck at the department's budget session with City Council last week.  

 A new rescue pumper or tower truck can cost anywhere from $750,000 to $1.2 million completely outfitted. "We would like to get on a program where we get a new fire truck every four years.  They were receptive to that and to what I had to say," Santone tells us. 

But the trucks are not only getting older, they are getting more expensive to fix.  Mechanic Judd Spaulding says, "they have 50 to 60 thousand miles on them but they are city miles, full throttle to complete stop, it's not highway easy miles on these trucks at all".

Plans progressed quickly, as there was an urgency to get Fire Station No. 2 built before the “freshets” (sudden floods caused by melting snow). The building site was creekside and floods would have interfered with construction.

The substation was to be a wooden structure, 35 by 52 feet, two stories in height with a cement basement; the plans included a tower for drying hose.

Another description of the building mentions a “practice tower.” Firefighters had to be experienced in such real-life situations as running upstairs with heavy equipment and rescuing people through upper windows. A practice tower provided opportunities to develop these skills.

The Sobriety Emergency Response (SOBER) unit will transport intoxicated people to a sober center in downtown. the one-year pilot program began in November 2017. It includes an ambulance crew, including an EMT, nurse practitioner, adn a case worker, housed in a fire station. Teh goal of the program is to reduce the number of times frequent users of the 911 system require visits to the emergency room. According to analysis by the Los Angeles (CA) Fire Department, about 40 of these callers are experiencing the effects of drug and alcohol abuse and account for approximately 2,000 emergency calls per year. Under the program, if a 911 caller meets certain criteria, the SOBER unit ambulance will transport the person to the sobering center, whcih offers detox services and can house approximately 50 people.