Dean Wilkinson

Both firehouses in the pictures are still active Detroit Fire Stations. THe 37 Seagrave is housed at a private garage in the Detroit area. The ambulance is housed at the Southwestern Ontario EMS Museum on the grounds of the Canadian Transportation Museum outside of Essex, Ontario, about a 25 minute drive from Detroit. http://www.ctmhv.com/index.htm

The Detroit Firemen's Fund member started this ambitious project several years ago to restore the former Detroit Engine 13 rig to be used as funeral caisson throughout the state. The body of the 37 Seagrave was removed from the Seagrave chassis and retrofitted to the chassis of a late model Freightliner that is powered by a Mercedes Benz 4 cylinder turbo charged engine and an automatic transmission, enabling the rig to travel long distances under its own power at highway speeds. I think the pictures below will give you a good idea of the great job that was done as it would be hard for the average person to know that this is not the original chassis without opening the hood or crawling under the rig. And yes, it still has (limited) pumping ability.

This 1968 Dodge Polara Ambulance began life as a 4 door sedan built at Chrysler's Windsor (ON) Assembly Plant. Although the VIN identifies the car as a sedan, it was equipped as a police package vehicle. Options included: • 440 cu inch, 375 horsepower V8 • 3 speed 727 Torqueflite automatic transmission with column shift • front disc/rear drum brakes • 15 inch wheels • calibrated speedometer • driver side mounted spot light • Sable White paint with a red interior From Windsor the Polara was shipped to National Coach in Knightstown, Indianna, to be converted into an ambulance. The roof , trunk and rear deck between the fenders were removed, the car was cut in two and the wheel base was lengthened from 122 inches to 145 inches and overall length increased from 219 inches to 252 inches. The side doors were reconstructed and a new roof, side rear windows and single rear door added . The ambulance interior was installed as was the emergency warning system. The completed car weighs around 6,000 pounds. It is believed that this is one of two Dodge Polara Ambulances built by National Ambulance in 1968. Apparently, National had last built an ambulance on a Dodge car chassis in 1962 and the Polara’s were the last ambulances to ever be built on a Dodge car chassis by any ambulance manufacturer. The completed ambulance was sold to Mac’s Ambulance Service in Lethbridge, Alberta, where it was in service until around 1980. At that time, it went to Bow Island, Alberta, until it was retired around 1988. The ambulance subsequently had several owners and eventually ended up back in Lethbridge, where it remained in storage until 2002. At that time it was purchased by Tom Rawlyk, a retired British Columbia Ambulance Paramedic. As it had not been driven in some time, some repairs were done in Lethbridge and the car was driven to the City of Vancouver, BC and parked in Tom's garage. Over the next 6 years, Tom did an excellent complete restoration of the ambulance. Shortly after completion of the restoration, Tom passed away and ownership of the car transferred to Tom's daughter Pamela. The ambulance was shipped back to Lethbridge where it remained until I acquired by it in September 2011. Currently, the ambulance is housed in the Southwestern Ontario EMS and Ambulance Museum, located at the Canadian Transportation Museum and Heritage Village in Essex, Ontario. http://www.ctmhv.com/The_Village/ems.htm

This a picture of my other ambulance, a 1973 Miller-Meteor Cadillac Lifeliner. It is currently in the body shop undergoing a complete restoration. Found this one 3 years ago in Corydon, Indianna. It had been owned by the Gehlbach & Royse Funeral Home and had been in storage for 20 years when I purchased it.

Automatic

This is the first production model (after the proto-type)of Crestlines new Mercedes ICON Ambulance. The patient compartment is much narrower than most modular ambulances but has 72 inches of headroom. The interior is very much in the European style and the unit is set up to carry only one stretcher and one ambulatory patient. I will post more pictures once the truck is delivered here in about 10 days.

5-speed NAG W5A 380 automatic transmission

Additional Pictures of the Mercedes prior to delivery. This vehicle is equipped with Ferno Acetech http://www.fernoacetech.com/Electronic Control Unit Module,Advance Vehicle Infomatics Module and their ECORUN System. We will be installing Ferno Acetech rooftop solar panels as part of the ECORUN system. The truck has also been equipped with a diesel hot air heater which in conjunction with the ECORUN system will allow the truck to be kept warm during street corner postings and while at scenes, without the vehicle engine running. As 40% our vehicle engine operating hours are spent idling, we expect to see a significant reduction in fuels costs . Additional features include Whelelen LED lighting and siren and Crestline's Crestcoat powder coating finish. The vehicle was designed and built to allow for the installation of Stryker's new PowerLoad system once it is available.

Essex-Windsor EMS is a third service municipal (county) EMS service providing EMS to the City of Windsor (Ontario), the County of Essex and Pelee Island. Operating 35 ambulances and 15 support vehicles from 12 stations, our 275 medics responded to 48,000 calls (95% 911) in 2010. In addition, since we employ dynamic deployment, we had 37,000 station relocations and street corner postings. We recently took delivery of 3 - 2011 Chev Crestline Fleetmax Ambulances. Features include all exterior and interior Whelen LED lighting, ATSR multiplexed electrical system, ATSR ECORUN, ATSR AVL/GPS and a diesel hot air heater to provide supplemental heat to the patient compartment. These are our first vehicles to be equipped with the ATSR multiplexed electrical system and ECORUN. A study of vehicle idling time showed our vehicles to be idling 38% of their engine operating time. ECORUN manages vehicle idling time by monitoring battery voltage and interior temperatures and shutting down the vehicle engine when voltage and temperature are within preset parameters, while still allowing vehicle emergency and interior lighting, radios, etc to operate. If voltage and/or temperature fall out of preset parameters, ECORUN restarts the engine and runs until voltage and/or temperature return to within parameters. Diesel here is currently around $4.50 per gallon US. It is estimated if we were to put ECORUN on our entire fleet, we would save between $50,000 to $60,000 US annually in fuel costs.

The other feature of this vehicle which I failed to mention is the fact that the entire ambulance body is powder coated, not painted.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity along with other members of Detroit Box 42, to tour the new Chicago Fire Boat, under construction at Hike Metal, in Wheatley, Ontario (Wheatley is approximately 40 miles south of Detroit on the north shore of Lake Erie) As you will see in the pictures, Hike employees were busy getting ready for delivery of the boat, as it leaves Wheatly for Chicago this coming Friday, April 15th. Here is a brief description of the vessel: 90 feet long 7 1/2 feet of draw Steel hull, aluminum superstructure, boat is designed for ice breaking duties Powered by 2 1400 horsepower Cat Marine Diesels, top speed 13 1/2 knots (consumes 100 gallons of diesel per hour at top speed) Two 7,000 gallon pumps each powered by a 1,000 horse Cat Marine Diesels Two 30 Kw diesel powered generators 2500 gallon diesel tank Two 500 gallon foam tanks 4 monitors, 3 on the bow, 1 on the stern, stern monitor elevates to a height of 30 feet Mast can be stowed hydraulically to allow passage under the bridges on the Chicago River system

Video of the new Chicago FD Fire Boat as it passed thru Windsor/Detroit today enroute to Chicago. My link