A new ambulance with some Huskie spirit has arrived at the DeKalb Fire Department.

The ambulance, nicknamed the “Huskie Hauler,” is not an average ambulance because it sports NIU logos on its front fender and on the rear of the vehicle. The ambulance is red with white reflective stripes, as opposed to other ambulances which are white with red stripes.

After gaining permission from NIU to use the Huskie logo, the fire department went ahead with the idea, Fire Chief Lanson Russell said. The ambulance arrived in February, but it has been eagerly awaited by the fire department since the fall.

“The new ambulance is fully equipped with the Advanced Life Support system,” Russell said. “In my opinion, all ambulances should look similar to fire trucks.”

The new ambulance resides at Fire Station #3 on Dresser road just east of Annie Glidden Road. This fire station serves NIU and surrounding neighborhoods, as well as most of northeast DeKalb. This station was built in order to compensate for the growing NIU community.

“This station has become the busiest station in town in the last two years, so the new ambulance went there,” Assistant Fire Chief Bruce Harrison said.

The arrival of the new ambulance was delayed about a year due to budget constraints that have forced the fire department to keep repairing some of the older ambulances, Harrison said. The ambulances cost around $115,000 and are replaced every five to seven years.