(Today’s Northumberland file photo)
By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7 FM/Today’s Northumberland
Steep upkeep on ambulances is a challenge, Northumberland County council’s Community Health Committee heard Tuesday, but it’s a challenge to municipalities throughout Eastern Ontario.
And it’s not just a matter of not springing for the replacement, according to the report presented by Paramedic Deputy Chief of Operations Keith Barrett. With only two recognized and certified ambulance providers in Ontario, replacements, once ordered, can take 16 to 18 months to receive.
The result is the need to maintain older ambulances past the appropriate lifespan of 54 months or 250,000 km. (whichever comes first).
“Ambulances are subject to early wear and tear due to extreme operating conditions, including exposure to all types of environmental conditions during emergency call responses,” the report said.
Maintenance standards are ministry-mandated, according to the report, which said that preventative maintenance on Northumberland ambulances rose to $115,805 last year from $95,000 in 2023.
Comparison statistics with other Eastern Ontario municipalities put Northumberland on the high end.
Shop hourly costs ranged from $60 to $150, with Northumberland paying $120.
Level A inspections ranged from $151 to $299, with Northumberland paying $226
Level AB inspections ranged from $243 to $889, with Northumberland paying $567
Level ABC inspections ranged from $9209 to $1,234, with Northumberland paying $1,208
In addition to inspections, four major repairs occurred in 2024: two engine replacements totalling almost $32,000 and two transmission replacements totalling more than $18,000. Out of the seven EO ambulance services, seven engine replacements and 10 transmission replacements were necessary.
“I think it’s helpful and informative for us to understand why we are not buying new pieces of equipment when we know ambulances are going down and the costs associated with this,” Warden Brian Ostrander commented.
He also referred to the long wait for delivery in cases where they do purchase a new ambulance, and speculated that issues in the news (like the threatened tariffs) will no doubt also have an effect.
“It breaks my heart to know we have to do this, but from a financial-management point of view, I get it,” Ostrander said.
Committee chair Olena Hankivsky asked about considering electric vehicles as replacements when the time comes. Barrett said that one is being tested in Durham at this time.
As far as ambulances go, they are developing electric engines but they are still a few years off before they would be available,” Barrett speculated.
There is one emergency-response vehicle in their fleet that is electric, he added and they are in the process of obtaining a replacement emergency-response vehicle that is also electric.
That comes with issues of its own, Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Moore said.
“When we look at our facilities, we have had to make some modifications to existing facility infrastructure to charge vehicles,” Moore pointed out.
“We know there’s some concerns with significant site expansion, but when we look at moving to an entire electric fleet in the future, that will require significant upgrades to our facilities so that many vehicles can be parked and plugged in for the duration that we need.
“That will be taken into consideration for new builds. When we get into some of our larger fleets, like roads, we will have to look at new construction to accommodate that kind of infrastructure.”
