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Pages 2-5
JULY 11, 2019
New ambulance arrives
Fire department increases EMS fees By Jason Starr Observer staff
A new ambulance Williston voters approved as part of the town’s fiscal year 2018 budget arrived in June, about a year later than originally planned. The $245,000 vehicle replaces a 9-year-old ambulance that the Williston Fire Department launched its ambulance service with in 2010. The new ambulance is not quite ready for the road. It is garaged for now, awaiting graphics and lettering and installation of a communication system. Firefighters and emergency personnel are also still learning the ins and outs of driving the vehicle. Fire Chief Ken Morton expects the ambulance to be operational by the end of July.
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
The existing ambulance is under contract to be sold for $20,000 to the East Montpelier Fire Department. Morton waited a year before ordering the new ambulance because, in fiscal year 2018, the fire department absorbed the cost of adding three new staff members. The ambulance was ordered in fiscal year 2019 — last summer. According to Williston Finance Director Shirley Goodell-Lackey, the $245,000 cost will be financed through a seven-year lease at a 3.1 percent interest rate from Union Bank. The new ambulance comes with the ability to mechanically lift patients on stretchers into the vehicle, an upgrade over the 2009 ambulance, which required emergency personnel to manually lift patients. The department’s other ambulance, purchased in 2014, also has a mechanical lift. Concurrent with the ambulance’s arrival, the fire department prosee AMBULANCE page 15
WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
Flags fly for the Fourth
ABOVE: The honor guard carries the colors through Williston Village on Thursday, leading off the town’s July Fourth parade on Williston Road. LEFT: Leaving nothing to chance, Phyllis Philips, left, and Jill Severance make their wishes known as the parade passes. See pages 2-5 for the Observer’s Independence Day scrapbook with more scenes from the July 3-4 celebration.
More Fourth photos at alfreyphotography. com Observer photo by Jason Starr
The Williston Fire Department’s new ambulance is pictured in front of the one it is replacing.
Observer photos by Al Frey
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