By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(July 30, 2026) Ocean Pines is replacing one of its ambulances a year ahead of schedule after it was so heavily damaged in a collision that officials deemed it beyond repair.

At the Ocean Pines Association’s Board of Directors meeting Monday night, General Manager John Viola reported that one of the Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department’s three ambulances was damaged during an accident on July 11 while heading to Salisbury. OPVFD President Joe Enste said the damage was primarily to the apparatus’s front end and would cost about $66,000 to repair.

The ambulance was slated for replacement in 2027. However, fire company officials and OPA staff have opted to move that date up in light of the wreck.

“The board of directors of the OPVFD consulted with our engineers and felt that investing $66,000 worth of repairs into a unit that only had about a year left of useful life wasn’t in the best interest of the community,” Enste said.

The new medical unit will cost OPA $372,000. Viola said the ambulance costs about $436,000, but the community is expecting to receive a $64,000 insurance check for the collision.

According to Enste, the fire department has been working with the Maryland vendor Fresco Emergency Sales to find a new medical vehicle. The company has a demonstration unit currently available that they have promised to the OPVFD, to be delivered in about 45 days.

“[Fresco] actually has a unit in stock right now,” the fire president said. “It’s considered a demo unit. They take it around to different trade shows and things like that. It’s a little different than what we would normally set up, but it will work for the needs that we have.”

During the interim, Enste maintained that they still have two working medical units in service. If an incident were to occur while both ambulances were previously occupied, Enste said the fire department would call in help from a nearby company like Berlin or Showell.

In the case that one of the two existing units were to become completely nonoperational, Ocean Pines has confirmed that either the Ocean City Fire Department or the Berlin Fire Company will temporarily lend one of their apparatuses to OPA.

“We have a plan,” Ense said.

Ocean Pines Board of Directors member Stuart Lakernick asked Enste if the damaged ambulance was totaled. The fire department representative said that the vehicle was “not technically totaled” because of the type of insurance it had.

“We have an agreed-upon value insurance,” Enste said. “To get to the total side of it, it needs to be 65% damage. There was $66,000 worth of damage.”