MENDOTA – It’s always fun to have a bright, shiny, better-than-you-had-before type of toy or piece of equipment.

Just ask Mendota Fire Chief Dennis Rutishauser about the new ambulance the Mendota Fire Department recently received.

“Everybody is excited about the new ambulance. We can’t wait to get it into service,” Chief Rutishauser said. “It’s always fun to have something new. It will ride better than our other ambulances because it’s longer than the vans. There is more headroom in the back.

“It’s something we’ve needed for a long time. It worked out for us and we’re thankful to the City of Mendota for purchasing the new ambulance.”

The new vehicle, a 2022 Ford Side Door with a price tag of $371,726, comes with many upsides.

It’s only two years old with 6,000 miles, which are all highway miles because it was used as a demonstration piece instead of a working ambulance before Mendota got it.

It’s 10 years newer than the current ambulance MFD is using as its first out run and 21 years younger than the third ambulance which will now be used for transfers and an emergency third out run.

“This was a demo unit and was driven to Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin. We bought it from Foster Coach Sales (Inc.) in Sterling, which is where we’ve bought all of our ambulances from the very beginning,” Chief Rutishauser said. “They had a demo they were getting rid of. I was able to get it within two months instead of the delivery time of an ambulance, which could be two or three years.

“We have three ambulances. We rotate them out. The new one will become our first out run, the current first run will then be our second out run, and our other one will be for transfers or third run if it is needed for a call.”

The new ride is also different than its predecessors because it’s a pickup truck instead of a van. It’s also a diesel engine instead of gas.

It has a refrigerator close to where patients will be for ice and water, and the seat belts have airbags in the seat belts.

Plus, it’s a different color.

“With it being a pickup truck, it’s easier to work on the motor,” Chief Rutishauser said. “When a shop has to work on our other ambulances that are vans, they have to tear off the entire front end to get to the motor. It’s very time consuming. This ambulance being a pickup truck will be better in that aspect also.

“When we got the new ambulance, all it had was the black stripe on the outside. It’s a totally different color, too. We’ve always had a white ambulance. We switched our new one to red to match the fire trucks. It was already red. We added graphics such as the Star Life and our logos.”

There are also similarities between the new and the old as the 2022 is Advanced Life Support equipped like the rest of the MFD vehicles.

It will also have the same equipment and items the other ambulances have had as the staff is swapping gauze, Band-Aids, the power load and cot (which is only a few years old after being purchased with a grant and was in the other ambulance for only three months), and anything else the fire department may need on a call.

The new ambulance has not been used yet and doesn’t have an official run date as it cannot hit the road until the State of Illinois Department of Public Health inspects the ambulance.

The Mendota Fire Department is working quickly to make it inspection and call ready.