# 4WD or 2WD?



## Mountain Res-Q (Jul 30, 2009)

http://www.kiiitv.com/news/local/52113152.html

So... question regarding your Ambulances.  I was having a discusion recently about our county's local ambos.  Primarily, they use 2WD type-2 units.  But out of the 4 stations in the county, 2 of the stations (higher elevations) also house a few 4WD rigs, enabling them to drive more sav]fely in the snow and on the dirt forest service roads.  Oddly enough (jus the look, not the principle) these same rigs have lift kits for higher clearence on those dirt roads.

So... does anyone here use 4WD rigs?  Are they standard in your area?  Useful?  And lift kits?  Any winches?  Other more rugged gear?


----------



## marineman (Jul 30, 2009)

We see plenty of snow but no mountains or other rugged terrain. We use strictly 2 wheel drive. Seems like people get over confident with 4wd and do stupid things. Only having 2 wheel seems to make people think a little more about how fast they actually need to go and such. We also have a policy that regardless of dispatch priority if we feel unsafe due to weather we will turn of the L&S and continue in non-emergency.


----------



## Hal9000 (Jul 30, 2009)

NW Montana=Both


----------



## mycrofft (Jul 31, 2009)

*Selection three*

This area is partly urban/rural interface, and mostly commuter bedroom community, with no snowfall and little flooding ever.


----------



## MRE (Jul 31, 2009)

We have a 2WD with agressive tires and On-Spot chains, which does pretty good in the winter.  Some of the private ambulances that we have worked with for intercepts show up with 2WD rigs with bald tires and no chains, more than a few times  they have  not been able to get into or out of a scene due to this.


----------



## dmc2007 (Jul 31, 2009)

All of our rigs are 2WD although IIRC they are equipped with snow chains in the winter.  We only see snow around 5-10 times per year and when we do its usually only a few inches.  We're also in a suburban town with pretty good road maintenance.


----------



## MRE (Aug 1, 2009)

I already responded, but I wanted to add that our rescue truck which used to be an ambulance is a F450 converted to 4WD as that model was not available with it for some reason.  It also has a 12,000lb winch in an extended front bumper.

My town gets about 70 inches of snow a year, so most residents have at least one 4WD vehicle, and half of the fire apparatus are 4WD, the rest have on spot chains.  We are also setup with a rescue sled that can be pulled by a snowmobile.


----------



## whatevah (Aug 1, 2009)

2WD with On Spot chains.  We don't get a lot of snow here (Delaware) and the DOT guys keep the main roads plowed/salted pretty well.   If there is a bad storm, we'll usually have our "TSU" on standby as an escort unit for any ambo runs. Of course, for most Delaware people... a bad storm means that there is more than 4" of snow. 

The TSU is a F-450 quad-cab (gotta love Superdutys!) with a Reading bed and misc fire hand tools and a BLS-level jump bag/AED. It has a dually rear axle, 4WD and winch. It has a tow strap in one of the compartments, but I don't think it's actually rated for recovery purposes, just towing.  (There is a huge difference between a tow strap, and a recovery strap, especially for safety of the users.  I used to work in the offroad market.)


----------



## guardian528 (Oct 3, 2009)

san luis ambulance has two 4wd off-road ambulances for responding to the oceano sand dunes, while the rest of their service are standard type 3

http://www.sanluisambulance.com/Gallery.aspx

you can see it there


----------



## cruzJD (Oct 3, 2009)

We have three 2 wheel drive and three 4 wheel drives.  The 2 wheel drives are BLS and the 4 wheel drives are ALS.  I think one 2 wheel drive unit never did get OnSpot chains put on but the rest do.

During the summer ALS rotate units.  When the weather is bad they move a BLS crew to a 4 by 4 and use it to transport PT to better roads.  PT, stretcher, EMT, and personal items switch units and all is well.

The county has one wilderness rescue ALS unit.  I have only seen it once but it’s a quad-cab, 4x4, winch, and has a long box on it to carry what they need for a rope rescue.  We do 1 to 5 rope rescues every year.


----------



## dewd09 (Oct 4, 2009)

Both are 4WD. Everything is, even the fire apparatus. Just because.


----------



## eynonqrs (Nov 3, 2009)

My service that I volunteer with only runs 2WD ambulances. We have aggressive tires and chains if needed to put on. I was running calls during that infamous valentine's day storm that hit the northeast a few years back. I never had a problem getting around.  The only 4WD that we run is the QRS. True Modular ambulances [duals in the rear], are the best. Van and "mini-mods" are horrible in the snow.


----------



## Seaglass (Nov 3, 2009)

Both, and all of our vehicles carry chains. We get some snow, loads of ice, and muddy dirt roads. We also have some modified SUV's and a thing that looks like a cross between a tractor and an ATV, all of which can take a patient. It's very rare that we actually need to use any of those, though. 

We also have our very own plow attachment. We don't get all that much snow, but the roads never get plowed until a day or two after it falls.


----------



## VFFforpeople (Nov 3, 2009)

Some of higher up counties run 4wd, but mainly 2wd does fine.


----------



## FF2EMT (Nov 3, 2009)

4WD is the only way to go where im from thats all we use. 
we operate out of 3 station with a fleet of 7 ambulances all 4wd includiing a 
4wd chase vehicle, we see about 200 inches of snow per yr


----------



## firecoins (Nov 3, 2009)

We have a hybrid.  Our ambulance is 3WD.  Thats because 1 wheel keeps falling off.


----------



## FF2EMT (Nov 3, 2009)

Haha thats always a good thing


----------

