Ambulance Comes Full Circle for Local Charity

Anne Wills was thrilled when she acquired a used ambulance for her nonprofit organization, Dogs Finding Dogs—a group that uses tracking dogs to locate lost or missing animals.

The vehicle was perfect, with room to haul cages and plenty of compartments inside and out for carrying equipment and traps.

But there was a problem. There was a bewildering number of switches and components that aren't usually found on a consumer vehicle, and some things appeared to no longer work.

"I found that the electric in the back and the outside big lights would not work," Wills said.

Wills contacted the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department asking for the assistance of somebody familiar with ambulances, so Capt. Douglas Simpkins went to check it out.

"I met her a couple of months ago and she told me she was getting an ambulance," Simpkins said. "She asked me to take a look at it. I told her I'd be happy to look at it. Being in emergency services, we're familiar with knobs and switches."

When Wills drove the ambulance to the firehouse on Southwestern Boulevard recently, Simpkins did a double-take.

"As soon as I walked out, I looked at this thing and said 'I've seen this vehicle'," he said. "I went in back, and it's like putting on an old pair of shoes. I was very comfortable back there."

His curiosity piqued, Simpkins climbed onto the top of the ambulance and had his suspicions confirmed.

"I climbed up on the roof, and there it was; Arbutus VFD," he said. "It was faded, but it was there. Arbutus 355."

The ambulance that Wills had purchased for $500 was the vehicle retired by AVFD in January and replaced with a .

When AVFD retired the ambulance, it was sold to a dealer and then to a private owner on the Eastern Shore, according to Wills. Her brother-in-law's business acquired the vehicle, and then sold it to Dogs Finding Dogs for a modest sum.

"We all are really surprised to see what a small world it really is," Wills said. "We all had a good laugh about it."

The former ambulance still needs some slight body work, modifications for the organization's needs, and a paint job.

Although it can not be marked like an ambulance anymore, Wills said that they intend on keeping the "Arbutus 355" marking on the roof as a tribute to its origins.

Note: This article has been edited to correct the title of Capt. Simpkins.