Cambridge Fire & Ambulance to hold fundraiser

 Cambridge Fire and Ambulance is holding its first annual dinner and live auction Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Washington County exhibit hall located at 115 E. Central Blvd. in Cambridge.

 On tap for the evening is a dinner and auction, as well as live music and dancing.

 Tickets are $25 per person and kids 10 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased by calling Cambridge Ambulance Coordinator Kris Jaeger at (208) 566-3244.

 “We are going to have prime rib and all the fixins’ and then we will have a live auction going on, with some really cool stuff, so it’s going to be a fun night,” Jaeger said.

 Money raised will go toward the purchase of a new ambulance. 

 The current emergency vehicle, while still fully operational and mechanically sound, is nonetheless beginning to age, which has triggered the current effort to eventually replace it.

 “It’s 20-some years old and it’s time to get updated,” Jaeger told the Weiser Signal American on Monday. “We are starting to grow and more people are moving up here, so we decided this is the time to get a new rig, something four-wheel drive because a lot of people are moving up in the hills.”

 Emergency vehicles are expensive, brand-new modular ambulances costing well over $200,000 depending on the make and needs and requirements specific to each agency.

 “We received a grant from Idaho EMS,” Jaeger said. “They do a dedicated grant every year, so this year we are needing to raise funds to make up the difference between the grant and the cost of the ambulance.”

 The grant Cambridge received was for $185,000, up from $140,000 in previous years. Jaeger said the increase was in response to rising costs.

 “We are looking at needing a minimum of another $50,000 to get into a new ambulance and the hard part is that we are looking at about 15 months, probably, before we get it after it is ordered,” added Jaeger who also serves as a firefighter for the Cambridge Fire Department.  

 “Ford has a dedicated assembly line just for emergency vehicles, but everything is backed up and everything is so expensive, so we started early to see what we could do and then we will go from there.”

 Jaeger said she expects a solid turnout for Saturday’s event, adding that the community stepped forward in grand fashion when the city was in need of a new fire hall, which opened about a year ago last April.