The association is celebrating its 75th anniversary in huge style this year, with the construction of a new $775,000 facility. When finished, the six-bay facility will cover 73,000 square feet and will provide an area for staff, training and equipment storage as well as the garage area.

Chicago's not alone in facing these challenges. Most cities are seeing big drops in fire calls and big jumps in medical calls. But few are really reforming their departments to meet this changing emergency landscape.

“We have been using ambulance vehicles that were purchased during the First Med bankruptcy, and used units purchased from various dealers,” said Bertie County Manager Scott Sauer at the time. “These units have gotten us through our initial startup, but are becoming more and more costly for the county to repair. We are also experiencing frequent breakdowns with these vehicles and are in desperate need of more reliable 911 ambulances.”