The approximately 4,415-square-foot station was built adjacent to the existing fire house. Construction began on Aug. 1 and addressed issues around accessibility, mold and exhaust fumes.

The city will spend $134,450 for a new Medix fire medic unit from Penn Care of Niles, Ohio, through the Ohio Department of Administrative Services contract.

Adkins said in addition to the medic unit, the city will need to spend an additional $2,000 on a four-camera video system as well as $18,178 for a Stryker power lift cot, bringing the total vehicle cost to $154,628.

Adkins said the city has tried to keep costs down by reusing the patient care box when the chassis wears out. In the case of the 2011 International unit, which has a larger chassis, that has not worked well. He said the smaller van-style chassis works better for the city’s application of reusing patient care boxes that can be remounted with minimal adaptations.

In their first 48 hours in service, firefighters used QRVs to respond to 23 out of 24 service calls. The one call where a Quick Response Vehicle was not used came while a QRV was already dispatched on a medical call.

The QRVs come at no added expense to the taxpayer, and will provide Walker County residents with significant savings.

The ambulance was on its way to the hospital with a crash victim in the back, when the accident occurred.
The ambulance was following a county-owned dump truck when the truck slowed to turn.
The ambulance driver swerved to try to avoid hitting the back of the dump truck and ended up hitting its passenger side.