Police SUV to be replaced

By Katie Curley
Staff writer

September 25, 2008 03:44 am

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AMESBURY — The police sports utility vehicle damaged in a fire last month has been deemed a total loss, and a new vehicle has been ordered to replace it.

In early August, the 2006 Ford Expedition used by shift supervisors caught fire from a leaking gasoline tank, police believe.

"The new vehicle will cost $32,000 with equipment," Mayor Thatcher Kezer said. "Half will be covered by insurance, and we will use a three-year lease so the first year will be covered."

The list price for a Ford Expedition is $31,345.

Kezer said the insurance payment will take care of the extra expense this year and future budgets will build in the new cost.

Originally, Kezer said they had researched whether buying a hybrid vehicle would be more cost-effective but deemed it to be more expensive and decided instead to go with the same vehicle that was destroyed in the fire.

"The hybrid would have been about $5,000 more, and there would be a wait to receive a hybrid stripped down as a police model," Kezer said. "We wanted to do something in that vein for the police command vehicle, but it just didn't work."

Kezer is working with the Amesbury Fire Department to purchase a sports utility vehicle that will be used as a chase car carrying equipment to fires and ideally generating cost savings for the town.

Kezer believes the switch will save in gasoline costs, the wear and tear on town vehicles, and manpower.

Fire Chief Jon Brickett switched early this year to using a chase car to accompany Emergency Medical Services calls rather than the firetruck. Brickett said he came up with the idea to start the chase car after reviewing the current budget and soaring gas prices.

The department was using the deputy fire chief's Ford Explorer before that position was filled. Now, temporarily, the department is using the Emergency Management Department vehicle, a Chevy Tahoe, but Kezer hopes to buy the department its own vehicle in the near future.

A new pumper truck costs between $450,000 to $525,000, Brickett has said, while the chase car would cost between $25,000 and $34,000.

"We will look at all possibilities with an eye toward energy-efficient vehicles and lower operating costs," Kezer said. "The vehicle will be classified as an ambulance and will need to be able to carry extra weight, so we will analyze what is capable of doing the job as effectively as possible."