Box Elder County Fire Departments Receive New Ambulances

PLYMOUTH, Utah – A pair of rural Box Elder County fire departments received new ambulances that first responders said will ultimately help with response times and simply being able to get out to those who need help.

It only takes one major call to make all of this worthwhile.

It means the world to us out here,” said Rose Tingey, one of the Grouse Creek EMTs who will benefit from a new robotic gurney.

“Yeah, there’s been times where there’s only been two of us and this gurney is awesome,” added EMT Sarah Warr, who has been with the department for seven years. “I love this gurney.”

Sometimes, you may only get a couple of volunteer EMTs who can respond to some of northern Utah’s most remote territory.

“Grouse Creek is one of those areas, that yeah there’s 50 people here today,” said Box Elder County Fire Chief Corey Barton. “During (the) deer hunt, we’ll have 1,000 people out here. Seven hundred to 1,000 people.”

Corey Barton, Box Elder County fire chief. (Mike Anderson/KSL-TV)

Barton said that’s why they need to be ready, just like any other department.

As the Box Elder County Fire Marshal, he was able to get grant money from fighting wildfires to buy this state-of-the-art ambulance.

It also has a device to help with CPR when they’re short-staffed, but a major plus is something many Utahns might take for granted — four-wheel drive.

“We’ve had a couple of calls out here, where they just haven’t been able to get to them and they wound up putting them in a pickup truck, or we take our ranger over there to try to get up and bring them down,” Barton said. “A lot of rough terrain out here around Grouse Creek. And up until now, they’ve had to, at times, depend on Park Valley to get an ambulance to those areas. And they are not close — they’re another 45 minutes to an hour to get there.”

Time that can be crucial in an emergency. To the south in Plymouth, they’re getting relief to some of those same challenges.

A similar robotic gurney and four-wheel drive were some of the most-needed upgrades they have in their new ambulance.

“Just slowly gotten more call volumes and needed a better one to better fit the need of the community, and especially I-15,” said medical captain Carlee Marshall.

Carlee Marshall, Plymouth Fire Department medical captain. (Mike Anderson/KSL-TV)

They turned to the community for their new ambulance, getting the bulk of the $200,000 they needed from Nucor steel Utah and several contractor partners of theirs.

“When we learned of the need, we look at safety as a top priority; not only for Nucor steel Utah, but for the communities that we support around us, and it was a pleasure for us to work with some of the contractors who work on-site to put together the donation to get the ambulance,” said Chris Locke, Nucor general manager.

Plymouth received its ambulance in late January, and it’s already been used in nearly a dozen calls.

“Personally me, I was ecstatic. I was so pumped,” Marshall said.