Sugar River EMS has taken delivery of a new ambulance that will soon become the district’s primary response unit in New Glarus, adding a fourth ambulance to the EMS district as the regional service prepares for a larger footprint and growing call volume.

The new Rescue 51 is a Road Rescue Ultramedic Type III ambulance built on a 2027 Ford E-450 chassis and delivered by Everest Emergency Vehicles Inc., of Little Canada, Minnesota. The black ambulance arrived in September after being ordered in October 2024.

Once fully placed in service, Rescue 51 will be based at the New Glarus station and will be the first ambulance dispatched to a medical call in the New Glarus area. Rescue 50 will become the second-out unit there. In Belleville, Rescue 48 will remain first out, with Rescue 49 second.

The ambulance is already available when extra capacity is needed and has been used during situations when several incidents were happening at once, Deputy Chief Josh Wescott said. Crews are still completing orientation, computer and dispatch hookups and other onboarding work before the rig assumes regular first-out duty, a transition Wescott expects within about two weeks.