With the recent purchase of a newer, bigger ambulance, the Bradford City Fire Department ambulance service is better equipped to do its job -save the lives of Bradford area residents.

The $80,000 2006 Wheeled Coach Ford E450 ambulance was put into service Thursday, officials said.

Fire Chief Bill McCormack, firefighters Mike Cleveland and J.D. Tehle and Bradford City Councilman Ross Neidich sat down with The Era Thursday afternoon to talk about the new ambulance, as well as their thoughts on the quality of emergency service the city provides.

McCormack said the fire department actually purchased the new ambulance about two months ago.

The funding for the vehicle, according to a release provided by McCormack, is broken into the three components, with the majority of the money -ðabout 42 percent – coming from the City of Bradford itself.

The Township Ambulance Replacement Fund comprises another 18 percent, and the remaining 39 percent comes from the Laskey fund.

The Laskey fund was established to purchase present and future ambulances.

“Thanks to the foresight of the Laskey trust,” according to a press release, “they saw a need to provide dependable, up-to-date and safe emergency ambulances to the City of Bradford so that the Bradford Fire Department can continue to provide the most trained, capable and timely emergency care to the Bradford area populace.”

The new ambulance replaces the department’s 1998 Horton Chevrolet.

“After an average of (more than) 2,000 EMS responses per year,” McCormack said in the release, “the Horton was in desperate need of replacement.”

In addition to the new ambulance, which will serve as the department’s primary ALS (advanced life support) ambulance, the city department’s fleet is made up of 2002 Medtec Ford ALS ambulance, a 1996 Marque Ford ALS ambulance in reserve and a 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe Paramedic Intercept vehicle.

The city department last purchased a new ambulance in 2002.

The city’s ambulances carry the most advanced life-saving equipment available, according to the release, “from 12 lead heart monitors and defibrillators, advanced airway equipment, specialized trauma and pediatric treatments, a host of emergency pharmaceuticals to extrication devices and bandages.”

The new ambulance not only has the most up-to-date equipment and devices inside, but is an all-around larger vehicle, giving emergency responders more room to maneuver and work in an actual emergency.

The city firefighters are certified in all required relative courses, McCormack said, and also hold many credits that are not state required, citing Pediatric Advanced Life Support, for example.

“We have the most training it’s possible for us to have,” Tehle said.

In addition to the extensive certification and training the city responders receive, the department also offers many courses each year to the outlying departments.

Each of the volunteer departments in the area have sent their personnel to the city for training at one time or another, Tehle said.

Neidich, who oversees the city’s fire department, said he feels, generally speaking, city residents are not aware of the quality of service the city fire department and ambulance service provides.

He pointed out that “in a busy year,” – the department responds to about 3,000 fire and emergency calls a year – ambulance service income makes up about half of the department’s budget.

“It’s not costing taxpayers as much as they might think,” he said.

“They are the most well trained in the area,” Neidich said, “and combined with the equipment we (the city government) are able to provide … it makes them the quality unit they are … a well-oiled machine.”