New ambulance coming to Sycamore in 2025

SYCAMORE – The city of Sycamore will add a new ambulance to its emergency fleet in 2025.

The ambulance will have a home at the Sycamore Fire Department after a 7-0 vote by the Sycamore City Council on Tuesday approved Fire Chief Bart Gilmore’s request to replace an aging emergency response vehicle.

According to city documents, the new ambulance will cost $318,483. An additional $150,000 is needed to strip the vehicle and fit it with medical equipment, such as cardiac monitors. The total estimated cost is $469,000.

City Manager Michael Hall said the Sycamore Fire Department historically donates one-third of the cost of a new vehicle and stressed the purchase would be accounted for in the city’s fiscal 2025 budget.

“This is a purchase order that will not actually take place until 2025 because it takes at least a year [or] two years to build this, so 24 to 30 months out or so, we’re looking to start that process,” Hall said.

The new ambulance will replace a 2008 Foster Coach ambulance that, according to Gilmore’s request, has almost doubled its expected service life.

Sycamore officials now have the go-ahead to place the purchase order for a new ambulance. Because the city has a long-standing relationship with vehicle manufacturer Foster Coach, according to city documents, the city will not have to pay anything toward the vehicle until the order is completed and the vehicle is delivered.