MEMPHSI, TN (abc24.com) - Injuries can happen anywhere, but ambulances can't go everywhere. Until now.
The Memphis Fire Department unveiled a compact transport vehicle that can maneuver through thick crowds and get on tight trails. With an expansion of the Greenline in the works, the bite-sized ambulance is filling a big void.
It's called 'ASAP' and this mini-medic on six wheels can go places a full-sized ambulance cannot.
“Say for instance if they're injured on the Greenline, the alternative is they would have to lay there until we walk in because we can't move our large vehicles up that Greenline,” Deputy Chief Gary Ludwig said.
That, however, has changed. And it's good news to avid Greenline user Wayne Simpson.
“When I saw it yesterday, I said, 'Man that is super.' In fact I was wondering if they had picked up someone,” Simpson said.
ASAP has been in action for special events around town like the Liberty Bowl and New Year's Eve on Beale Street.
If someone's life depended on it, Ludwig said ASAP can reach speeds of 45 mph.
That was the case during the Southern Heritage Classic where a woman suffered a heat stroke.
“We couldn't get an ambulance to where they were at, so we were able to move the patient through the crowd using this vehicle and get them to an ambulance, and the ambulance was able to get them to the hospital,” Ludwig said.
Powered by diesel and paid for with grant money, more of these vehicles are headed to the Mid-South. Bartlett's Fire Department is set to receive ASAP in a few months. Collierville also applied for the vehicle.
