EMS All-Terrain Vehicle Navigates Hard-to-Reach Places

Reaching and rescuing people who need assistance in locations with difficult terrain like wooded areas and hiking trails can be challenging when only a traditional ambulance is available. That’s where Easton EMS’s Polaris 6×6 “TAC 853” comes in.

The all-terrain vehicle (ATV) is equipped with a flatbed trunk that allows emergency personnel to carry patients out from a wooded area and deliver them to the ambulance waiting on the open road.

“This vehicle will go anywhere that the ambulance can’t,’” said Easton EMT Josh Meszaros. “We use it in the woods, we use it on beaches, and in areas where there is no access for an ambulance.”

The vehicle, which is utilized two to three times a month by EMS, was acquirted six years ago for about $20,000 and purchased entirely through donations from the community.

Nearby towns like Stratford have at times requested that the vehicle be on standby for some large beach gatherings and events, but it is Easton’s rural terrain that will continue to make the ATV an important component of EMS operations for local residents.

“We found ourselves going into the woods and having to carry a person out,” said Meszaros. “Now we don’t have to carry this person out because we can put them on the back of the vehicle.”

Though there aren’t any definite plans to purchase another similar vehicle in the near future, Meszaros says they could purchase another one four to five years down the line.