SANTA ROSA, Calif. – The American Red Cross of the California Northwest recently unveiled a new redesigned emergency response vehicle to serve the local community during disasters.

During a disaster, Red Cross emergency response vehicles are on the frontline, delivering food and supplies, often to families cut off from other services.

The design of these new vehicles has been overhauled from the chassis up, making this generation nimbler when encountering difficult terrain and debris.

WiFi enables volunteers to complete critical casework at disaster scenes, two larger feeder windows allow the Red Cross to serve families more efficiently, external lighting that can light dark disaster sites, and a sliding lift system makes it easier to load supplies.

“It was a pleasure to take the emergency response vehicle out to Bodega Bay for their emergency preparedness town meeting at the firehouse,” said Red Cross driver Kelly Bradshaw. “The emergency response vehicle is beautiful, and it was a joy to share it with the residents. We were able to share some of the important services it’s designed to facilitate.”

The vehicle was funded by The Hedco Foundation, The Bothin Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, PG&E Corporation Foundation, Paul Cleveland & Deborah Lawson, US Bank National Association, Ms. Kathryn Holmes, Kaiser Permanente, American AgCredit FLCA, The Shapiro Family Trust, many other generous local donors, and those who supported the Fund the Need at the 2018 Heroes event.

“Without generous donations from our community, this emergency response vehicle would not be available to serve our neighbors in times of emergency,” says chapter Executive Director Jeff Baumgartner. “We are immensely grateful for this support. This new vehicle will be based in our Sonoma office. It allows us to respond efficiently and effectively during disasters such as the recent wildfires in Lake and Mendocino counties and can be deployed across the country.”

For more information, visit www.redcross.org/calnw, call 1-707-577-7600, or find them on Facebook and Twitter.