Vigilant Fire Company adds two new EMS vehicles

Janelle Clausen
Two of Vigilant Fire Company’s newest paramedic response vehicle and ambulance sit stationed outside the firehouse. (Photo courtesy of Vigilant Fire Company)
Two of Vigilant Fire Company’s newest paramedic response vehicle and ambulance sit stationed outside the firehouse. (Photo courtesy of Vigilant Fire Company)

Great Neck’s Vigilant Fire Company announced the acquisition of two new EMS vehicles on Monday, increasing the company’s fleet of emergency response vehicles to 12.

One of the new vehicles, an ambulance, replaces one that was in an accident. The other is an advanced life support vehicle with paramedic equipment, a cardiac monitor and other items. This, the company said, will make responding to multiple emergencies easier.

The company said it fields just under 2,000 medical calls and 400 fire calls a year. Nearly a quarter of the calls are dual response calls, meaning one call will come in while the department is answering another one.

“It’s immeasurable,” Joshua Forst, chief of the Vigilant Fire Company, said of the vehicles’ value. “This will enable not only our paid paramedics but our members to have a vehicle strictly for paramedic response.”

This development comes amid an ongoing controversy regarding the village’s consideration of turning to Northwell Health for local emergency medical needs instead of Vigilant. The fire company has been the primary emergency care provider for 80 years.

“Even in the face of everything going on, we make decisions for the better of the community and [assuming] that we are going to operate as if we’re going to be there forever,” Forst said.

“We’re not going to put people’s lives at risk while we continue to operate,” he added.

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