Braun Industries' Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Chad Brown, was recently interviewed on Fire Engineering Talk Radio. Host Chric McLoone, Associate Editor of Fire Apparatus and Emergency Equipment magazine, covers a variety of questions with Chad specifically related to the Patriot ambulance model. You can listen to the complete episode here. Chad's interview begins around minute marker 47 and is 15 minutes long. 

Want a quick recap of the interview? Check out the highlights below.

The History of the Patriot Model: The idea of the Patriot unit has evolved over time. It started in 2008 when Braun placed a Super Chief ambulance on a Spartan Furion chassis. As Braun brought the vehicle around to different trade shows, there was a lot of interest and questions around whether or not they could put fire suppression capabilities on it, along with other rescue and extrication tools. This prompted Braun's innovation and development team to look into what was possible and how they could develop a vehicle to meet these requests. What they came up with is today's Patriot. It's a versatile apparatus built for fire-based EMS departments on a purpose-built chassis.

Overview of the Custom Patriot Units for Volusia County: Chad started working with Volusia County over a year and a half ago. They custom designed and built 4 Patriot models; details on the units can be found here. They are going to put these units into service at outlying stations that serve rural areas. These stations previously had long response times because a 3rd party EMS transport company was providing their EMS service. In the tough economic times when they're forced to do more with less, these will allow Volusia County to provide fire suppression, extrication, and transport capability in one vehicle, with limited manpower.

Additional topics discussed in the interview, related to the points above:

• Transition for Braun to selling fire apparatus
• Interest level for these types of all-in-one units
• Why Braun built this type of unit
• Target market for these units
• Ability to build these for a 4 person crew
• Unique orders that stand out to Braun
• Standards these apparatus meet to be compliant
• General comments about these all-in-one emergency vehicles

Thanks to Chris McLoone for a great interview!

If you are interested in seeing the Patriot unit discussed in the interview, be sure to visit Braun Ambulances at FDIC. There will be a unit from Volusia County on display at our main booth, #4731. Exhibits will open on April 19, 2012.