SYRACUSE — Fire Chief Mickey Scott told the Turkey Creek Fire Board Monday evening, Oct. 12, he ordered the chassis for the department’s new ambulance.

The scheduled replacement will retire the department’s current 2002 automotive workhorse, which, according to internal research, completed 759 emergency runs since Jan. 1, 2011. The engine has endured the wear-and-tear equivalent of 600,000 miles of use.

The board unanimously approved a motion to direct Scott to execute a contract with Penn Care for construction of the new ambulance, which will be slated for completion approximately 240 days after the contract signing.

Purchase authorization for the chassis necessitated a special meeting last month because General Motors announced it would stop manufacturing the model preferred by the department and placed a Sept. 30 deadline on orders.

Purchase of the soon-to-be-discontinued chassis saved the taxpayers $17,564.

The new unit, complete with a new Ferno cot (a state-of-the-art wheeled patient transport stretcher), will cost $177,207, nearly $28,000 under the budgeted allotment. Payment will be due upon delivery in “June or July of next year,” according to Scott.

Scott also presented a comparison between the department’s 2006 and 2016 budgets, highlighting the savings to the town of Syracuse since the consolidation of fire services with Turkey Creek Township.

“The town of Syracuse is projected to spend $3,036.90 less in 2016 than was projected in 2006,” he said. “This reflects a 1.5 percent decrease over an 11-year period.

“We feel that we are providing an excellent fire and EMS service to all of the citizens of the Turkey Creek Fire Territory, including the citizens of the town of Syracuse, and we are providing the service at a rate that is $377,885 below maximum levy.”

In other business, Scott reported:

• With 75 percent of the budget year elapsed, the department has utilized less than 50 percent of its operations budget.

• The department responded to 113 emergency calls in September, preventing an estimated $15 million in property loss “due to a structure fire and a trash fire with a commercial business as an exposure.” Scott noted, “If our run volume continues at our current rate through the end of 2015, we will have 1,356 runs this year, which is approximately 106 above our average annual run volume.”

• Paving at both fire stations is “almost complete.” The $66,778 project bid was consolidated with a town bid for simultaneous work.

• The department received a $6,585 premium refund based on the results of a 2014 worker’s compensation policy audit. “This return premium was largely due to the fact that some of our members are now in the (state administered) 77 PERF plan, which provides coverage for some aspects of our worker’s compensation that were previously covered under our insurance policy,” Scott reported.

The board will next meet at 6:45 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, at Syracuse Town Hall.