Mobile evacuation buses make their D.C. debut
Sartin Services introduces a vehicle that can transport twenty-four victims at once
As residents of Washington, D.C. ourselves, we were pleased to read that five departments in the area had used their Urban Area Security Initiative dollars to purchase mobile evacuation buses from High Point, North Carolina-based Sartin Services. A clever idea indeed, Sartin’s buses can hold twenty-four medical patients — each with his own metered oxygen supply — as well as a nurse’s station to keep tabs on them all. A large adjustable ramp is used for loading or unloading patients, and the bus sports all manner of heating, lighting, and electrical wiring needed for a vehicle with such serious duties. (Sartin is best known for its bus air-conditioning business.) Most interestingly, however, the system designed can be easily adapted for installation on trucks, tractor-trailers, trains, subway cars, railroad cars, and airplanes. “While an ambulance can handle one or possibly two patients, these specially outfitted buses will increase the region’s transport capability,” Chief Tom Carr of the Montgomery County, Maryland Fire and Rescue Service explained.
