Officials from the Northville Township Fire Department have ordered two new ambulances to replace two aging vehicles with more than 120,000 miles on each of them. Because of the specialized equipment involved, the new models will take two years to build, officials said, and the township expects them to arrive next summer.
Firefighter/Paramedic Christopher Wiggins won a $250,000 FEMA grant for Northville Township Fire Department, covering about 80 percent of the cost of one of the ambulances.
Northville Township is saving an additional $90,000 on both of the new ambulances by reinstalling the existing Stryker Power Cots that were previously purchased using funds from another grant, also secured by Wiggins.
The grant funding will allow Northville Township to purchase the two ambulances for $386,000 thanks to Wiggins' grant writing skills, a 47 percent savings.
Northville Township recognizes the tremendous value of obtaining grant funding to offset expenditures, which are necessary to provide an exceptional level of service to the community, officials said. Seeking alternate funding sources is a vital component to being good stewards of taxpayer money and grants are a beneficial funding source, they added.
Wiggins, who celebrated his fifth-year work anniversary with Northville Township this year, has won more than $10 million in grant funding for the region fire service.
