Oxnard fire staff ask city council to approve $255,000 for demo paramedic squad
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Summary
Assistant Fire Chief John Colomarino asked the Oxnard City Council to approve a $255,000 general fund appropriation and to authorize a $225,000 purchase order to acquire a nearly new demo paramedic squad that staff says would expand reserve capacity and avoid long lead times for a custom build.
Assistant Fire Chief John Colomarino asked the Oxnard City Council to approve a $255,000 appropriation from the general fund and to authorize the mayor to sign a $225,000 purchase order to buy a demo paramedic squad for the Oxnard Fire Department.
Colomarino said the vehicle is a purpose-built demo unit with about 59 miles on it that matches the department—s specifications and is available for immediate delivery. "The cost of this demo unit is $225,000, which would ultimately save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars and several years of additional wear and tear on the current squad at Fire Station Number 8," he told the council.
The request, presented on behalf of Fire Chief Alex Hamilton, is intended to replace a utility truck currently operating as squad 66 at Fire Station 6 and to create a reserve squad so the department maintains advanced life-support (ALS) response capacity when a frontline vehicle is out for maintenance or repair. Colomarino said that in 2024 the department responded to 21,719 calls for service in Oxnard, including 16,830 emergency medical incidents.
Colomarino outlined the department—s frontline fleet as eight fire engines, two ladder trucks and two paramedic squads, noting that the utility truck used as squad 66 has "significantly less operational capacity than a purpose built vehicle would" and that the department currently has no reserve squads.
Staff told the council that the department received ARPA funds in 2023 to buy a chassis to be mated to an existing squad body; that chassis arrived in September and is being assembled. Because of long manufacturing lead times and higher cost for a custom-built vehicle, staff said the demo unit is the most time- and cost-efficient option. Colomarino said the total appropriation requested is $255,000, with a $225,000 purchase price to Station Apparatus LLC and the remainder to cover transport and communications equipment.
If approved by the council, staff said it would issue a single-source purchase order to Station Apparatus LLC and budget the appropriation in the fire department—s general fund operating account. The presentation concluded with Colomarino offering to take questions; the provided transcript does not record any council vote or formal action on the request.
For transparency, the transcript used for this report refers to the vendor both as "Cellar Station Apparatus LLC" and "Station Apparatus LLC." The council record should clarify the vendor—s official legal name before any contract is executed.