The Chehalis Fire Department is now finalizing an order for a new ambulance after the Chehalis City Council approved a resolution on its first and final reading authorizing the purchase.
The agreement with HGACBuy includes financing through the Washington state Treasurer’s Office Local Program.
Chehalis Fire Chief Adam Fulbright explained to the council why approving the purchase on its first and final reading was needed during the council’s Monday, Aug. 26, meeting.
“We’re asking that due to the abundance of ambulance orders across the nation and the excessive build times,” Fulbright said.
Chehalis city code authorizes the council to temporarily suspend the normally required second reading of a resolution in cases it deems necessary.
The build time for a new ambulance is around 580 days, Fulbright added. He said he expected it to be delivered to the city by “the first quarter of 2026.”
The ambulance will be a 2025 North Star 171-1 and will be purchased from Braun Northwest. Fulbright expected the ambulance to cost $450,000 after being outfitted with radios and medical equipment for the department.
Overall, the Chehalis Fire Department received approval for up to $1.65 million in financing through the Treasurer’s Office Local Program. The remaining approved funds will go toward purchasing a new fire engine for the department.
“On Aug. 5, we were approved for that loan,” Fulbright said.
Fulbright originally came to the council earlier this year in June with a proposal to seek financing through the Local Program for both a new ambulance and fire engine. He is currently working on a purchase agreement for the engine, which he hopes to bring to the council for approval soon.
Chehalis City Councilor Daryl Lund asked Fulbright if he intended on having the department retain the old ambulance as a backup. The old ambulance — a 2005 Ford North Star — was long overdue to be replaced as the expected service life of an ambulance is around seven years.
“The chassis is 19 years of age, the box itself is 34 years of age and that’s the patient compartment,” Fulbright said. “It’s been remounted once already.”
Remounting an ambulance is a refurbishing process that involves removing an ambulance’s patient transport box and placing it on a new chassis to try to extend its service life.
However, the old ambulance also suffered from an intermittent electrical issue that caused it to fail to start sometimes, Fulbright told the council back in June.
The council also approved an interlocal agreement between the Chehalis Fire Department and Riverside Fire Authority to temporarily use each other’s spare vehicles, giving Chehalis access to a nearby ambulance if needed.
The city also has a contract with American Medical Response to provide emergency medical transport for Chehalis residents.
According to the treasurer’s website, the Local Program has helped municipalities around the state purchase 140 new vehicles since 1999. To learn more about the Local Program, visit the treasurer’s website at https://bit.ly/3z8h1SL.
HGACBuy — or the Houston-Galveston Area Council Buy — is a nationwide cooperative purchasing program which aims to provide municipalities and other government agencies with special purchase contracts. For more information, visit its website at https://www.hgacbuy.org/Home.
