Durham County EMS adds 5 new and improved ambulances to fleet following past vehicle shortage

DURHAM COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Durham County EMS has come full circle now that five, new ambulances are joining the fleet.

County leaders hope this will improve the emergency response. It's been a long time coming for the department.

"Essentially what we've done is we've increased the reliability of the fleet," Gordon Smith, the Durham County EMS Interim Chief, said. "We did have a vehicle crisis over the last couple of years due to multiple things."

This includes limited number of available EMS vehicles.. Smith said vehicle maintenance was much higher than what is normally acceptable.

ABC11 I-Team investigated and found there have been over 40 instances in 2022 of major repairs needed for county ambulances.

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Durham County EMS officials confirmed with the ABC11 I-Team that their fleet of ambulances has been reduced.

These issues reportedly occurred on the way to calls, or even when patients were inside the vehicle.

The department expects three new ambulances in December and 11 more by 2027. This will ultimately replace most of the aging fleet.

Smith said they're in a much better position now.

Not only are these ambulances new, but officials say it's like a smart vehicle with cool new features, such as what's called "stealth power."

Officials said it's going to increase the efficiency of the vehicles and reduce fuel costs.

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"We can retire some of the older ones," Smith said. "We can put some of those into a reserve fleet so that we don't run the front-line units down into the ground."

He said there's always room for improvement, including in the recruitment process. But, he is confident about their emergency response as Durham County continues to grow.

"We need to keep pace with that to meet the demands," Smith said. "And we are on top of that."

ABC11's Cindy Bae and Sydnee Scofield contributed to this report.