See OSTRICH on

AIRPORT from page 9

accomplished.

The city has been trying to lengthen the runways at airport for a while. A previous City Council put in a mandate that any such project would have to be put before voters in a bond election. The city has tried twice – and it has been defeated twice.

Reeves said it will take educating voters to get it passed. He said too many people think if the runways are longer, it will open the door for major passenger airlines – which he said is not true.

“The runway can never be that long,” Reeves said. “What we got now can take mid-size jets. If we lengthen it out to 5,550 feet, which is the longest we can get that southern runway, two things are interesting.”

First, is that they can do it inside the existing fence, so no land needs to be acquired Second, he said, it won’t necessarily mean more airplanes, but it will lead to more cycles. That means the airplanes that are already using the fi eld will be able to do so year-round.

“Even some of our smaller aircraft, as we get into the heat of summer, hot air is thin air, so an airplane needs a longer runway to get off ,” Reeves said.

Reeves said some businesses that utilize the airport have to be careful about how much weight they have on their planes to ensure they can take off on the shorter runways. Lengthening them will allow them to carry more weight.

He also said shorter runways are costing the city money. Some business planes are forced to go to other airports. Reeves said the large passenger jets will continue to operate at Phoenix Sky Harbor and Mesa Gateway airports and will not be coming to Chandler.

Reeves says Chandler is the 32nd busiest airport in the nation with about a quarter of million fl ights annually.

The airport is still waiting on a fi nal report from the National Transportation Safety Board about the fatal crash that took place at the airport in October.

Reeves said air travel remains very safe. He said he is confi dent that they have excellent service from the Chandler and Gilbert fi re departments. Reeves said they have been staging drills and says the response time has been very good.

Reeves says one of the best aspects of his job is that the Chandler Airport is a fun place to work.

“It is one of the best fl ying communities, not just in the state. I think it’s one of the best fl ying communities in the country,” Reeves said.

OSTRICH from page 1

was a collective decision with the city and the Chamber,” LeVine said.

Two years later. life is poised to return to normal – and that includes the Ostrich Festival.

“We decided to bring it back, bigger and better than ever,” LeVine said.

This year’s Ostrich Festival is scheduled for two weekends for the fi rst time, March 11-13 and March 17-20 at Tumbleweed Park, 2250 S. McQueen Road. The festival pays tribute to the early days of Chandler when ostrich ranches existed.

It began and drew between 250,000 and 300,000 people over three days. Now they’re expanding it to six days.

The festival includes live entertainment, carnival rides, food, beverages and of course, ostriches.

Country music star Walker Hayes is the featured performer for March 12. His hit “Fancy Like” was number one on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs list for four weeks. Also lined up is GRAMMY Award winning R&B singer Nelly.

St. Patrick’s Day will fall during the festival and LeVine said special activities are being planned to take advantage of that.

She said the past two years have been rough, with no Ostrich Festival since 2019. She said the performers they are talking to about appearing are all excited to get in front of people again.

“They’re very eager, very excited,” she said. “They’re very interested in coming to see what this Ostrich Festival is all about.”

Admission is $20 for 13 and older, $15 for ages 4 to 12, and free for children 3 and younger. VIP tickets that include access to the front of stage viewing area and VIP tent are $100.

The carnival rides will cost a dollar each, or visitors can purchase 25 tickets for $23 or 80 tickets for $70. They also plan to off er unlimited ride wristbands. No price has been announced for those. For details as the gala event gets closer, check ostrichfestival.com.

And as organizers continue to plan for this year’s bigger and better festival, COVID cases are once again spiking to record highs.

“We’re still a few months away, we’re hoping that the numbers get under control,” LeVine said. “The entire thing is outside, and that is a positive component to this. We’re certainly watching and listening and seeing what other events are doing in the Valley and across the country.”

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Chandler fi rst responders introduced their new ambulances last week. (City of Chandler)

Chandler deploys new fl eet of ambulances

There are a lot of bells and whistles that are part of Chandler’s new ambulance fl eet, but the most important attribute for the city is that there are more of them.

“Because we’ve had so many struggles with ambulances, we knew that we’re growing and that we needed to grow our number of ambulances,” said Keith Hargis, the city’s assistant fi re chief. “We also knew that backup ambulances are important.”

Maricopa Ambulance replaces American Medical Response as the city’s private partner in providing ambulance service. It began serving the city on Friday.

Under the previous contract, the city had fi ve full-time ambulances with a surge to six during peak times. One ambulance was left in reserve, so it could replace another that needed maintenance.

The new contract increases the total number of ambulances from seven to 10. Maricopa Ambulance will have six full-time ambulances and that number increases to seven during peak hours.

“The equipment that’s supplied on the ambulances is a huge win for us,” Hargis said. “It’s a win for the community, really. Having more ambulances on the road that can respond to medical calls and patients that are in need is critical for us. Not only to absorb the volume, but to increase the response time.”

But perhaps the biggest improvement from the city’s standpoint is there will be three reserve ambulances. Hargis said under the old contract, the city only had one ambulance in reserve and that sometimes caused a strain.

Hargis said if they needed additional reserve ambulances, they had to pull from a shared supply. He said that was a problem because those reserve ambulances often rely on diff erent communication systems, making them diffi cult to contact in the fi eld.

Hargis said all 10 ambulances will be using the same system that is compatible with Chandler Fire.

The contract is for four years with options to renew for up to three additional years. Maricopa Ambulance has been around about fi ve years and has grown quickly. In addition to Chandler, it currently is the ambulance provider

See AMBULANCE on page 15

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