NEWTON — Town officials acted hastily to buy a used ambulance because they worried the seller would soon post the vehicle for sale on the Internet.

The fire department received the 1993 Ford Econoline Ambulance yesterday with a little more than 100,000 miles on it. Selectmen last week voted 2-1 to purchase the pre-owned emergency response vehicle, with Selectmen Trisha McCarthy and Ray Thayer voting to buy it and Selectman Robert Donovan voting against the purchase. The $9,500 cost came from funds left over in the fire department's operating budget.

The town didn't have plans to buy an ambulance, and didn't research other emergency vehicles for sale, but proponents of the purchase said they needed to act quickly before they lost out on the deal.

The proposal to buy the ambulance was brought forward by the fire department, and Fire Chief William Ingalls said there was a rush to buy the ambulance before the European Imports dealership put it up for auction online.

"It was a sort of a quick thing to get it before it went on sale on eBay," Ingalls said.

"We didn't sit down and plan to buy an ambulance."

Based on information given to the town by European Imports, McCarthy was convinced the town got a great deal.

The sellers told her that similar ambulances sell for more than $20,000, and they would throw in a stretcher that usually costs about $2,000 for free.

"This ambulance is in what they are calling totally refurbished condition," McCarthy said.

Donovan said he objected because he didn't like the process used to buy the vehicle. Purchases of more than $3,500 are supposed to go out to bid, unless the need for the item is an emergency.

He said he didn't consider buying an ambulance a pressing need for the town.

The town uses Trinity EMS for emergency medical calls. The pre-owned ambulance will be used as a backup, Ingalls said.

Trinity has one ambulance that serves Plaistow, Atkinson, Danville, Newton, Sandown and Hampstead.

When that ambulance is in use, they bring in reserves from over the border from Haverhill, Trinity spokesman Chris Dick said.

Several other local communities also own backup ambulances, he said.

"If our services are being used, there may be a time when there may not be a resource available for a backup," Dick said.

Donovan said he didn't have a problem with the town buying an ambulance, but it should have been done differently.

The town didn't put the purchase out to bid, they didn't consider any other vehicles, and the fire chief couldn't provide selectmen with annual maintenance costs, Donovan said.

"I don't have any problems buying an ambulance, if that's what the townspeople want," he said.

"But if we're going to buy an ambulance, we should do it the right way."

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