Crown to Lease Ambulance from Fort Fairfield

 

By:  David Deschesne

Fort Fairfield Journal, January 22, 2014

 

   The Fort Fairfield town council recently agreed to lease the Fort Fairfield Fire Department's ambulance to Crown Ambulance, as well as lease a space to house their paramedics within the Fire Department's facility.

   Fort Fairfield currently owes $20,000 to Crown Ambulance as part of an ongoing agreement to provide 24 hour ambulance service in Fort Fairfield.  The amount represents the last two quarters of 2013.

   Dealing with the possibility that the City of Presque Isle is considering taking on the 9/11 calls with their own ambulance service, Crown is anticipating a major sea change in how they provide service to other communities in the area.  “The culture of ambulance service in Northern Maine is changing, that’s a given,” said Fort Fairfield town manager, Mike Bosse “and we need to respond accordingly.”

   In an effort to assist Crown Ambulance with mitigating their costs, and allowing Fort Fairfield to acquire a credit against their debt with Crown, while at the same time maintaining a full time ambulance service in town, the Fort Fairfield town council agreed to enter into an agreement to lease Crown an ambulance currently owned by Fort Fairfield Fire Department. 

The FFFD Ambulance is a 1994 with only 10,000 miles on it and it is in excellent shape.  It was acquired a couple of years ago from U.S. government surplus and has been used by FFFD as a First Responder vehicle as needed.

    Crown currently has four new ambulances on order but they are still on the assembly line and won't be delivered until later in the year.  In the meantime, they are leasing ambulances to fill the need.  In an effort to reduce costs and allow Fort Fairfield the opportunity to earn some trade value against their bill, Crown has offered to lease the FFFD's ambulance.

   Fort's ambulance will be leased by Crown for $1,500 per month with that payment being applied against the outstanding debt Fort currently owes to Crown.  The open lease provides for the ambulance to be used in Fort Fairfield and the surrounding area as needed, but not for routine patient transport to Bangor or other health care facilities outside of the immediate area.  Either party to the lease will have the option to cancel the lease with a ten day notice.

  “"In the lease, Crown will be picking up all the costs associated with the maintenance and upkeep of that vehicle,” said Bosse.

   In addition to leasing Crown the ambulance, the town council also gave the go ahead to begin modifications to a room within the Fire Department, at the Community Center, that would also be leased to Crown to house two full time Crown paramedics in a further effort to assist them in reducing their costs.  “Currently they are housing two people at the Fort hospital and they are heating that space and maintaining it.  They are also heating and maintaining the garage adjacent to it to store the ambulance in,” said Bosse.  “We have offered - as a way for them to mitigate their costs, and for us to capture some money to pay our bill - to house the ambulance here at the Fire Department and house the paramedics here.  After showing them the facility they were very interested.”

    Prior to the January town council meeting, Bosse and fire chief, Mike Jalbert met with the State Fire Marshall and received the okay to use a designated room for the purposes of full time sleeping and living quarters for up to two paramedics at the fire department's facility.  “He (the Fire Marshall) was agreeable to allow us to do that.  This will be a very inexpensive way for us to accommodate them.   This will help them mitigate some of their costs they are incurring over there and likewise help mitigate our expense with them.”

   Over the course of a year, the ambulance lease would net Fort Fairfield $18,000 that would be applied against the debt currently owed to Crown.  The leasing of the room and a bay at the Fire Department would also be used to apply against future debts incurred by Fort to Crown Ambulance.

   The lease of the ambulance and lease for the paramedic space was presented to the council in two separate motions, both of which passed unanimously.