Status: Defunct
Founded: 1951
Ceased Operations: 2023
Service Area: Alstead, Chesterfield, Fitzwilliam, Gilsum, Harrisville, Keene, Lempster, Marlborough, Marlow, Nelson, Richmond, Roxbury, Stoddard, Sullivan, Surry, Swanzey, Troy, Walpole, Winchester
Number of Bases: 1
Annual Run Volume: Not documented
Dispatched By: SWNH
DiLuzio Ambulance was established in 1951 as Frank J. Foley Ambulance, run out of the Foley Funeral Home in Keene. Prior to this, ambulance service for the region was provided by Elliot Community Hospital, but renovations to the facility forced the program out and the contract was put out to bid. The Foley Funeral Home was awarded the contract and began operations with two ambulances in 1952, serving all Monadnock communities that called for assistance. This was the majority of municipalities, as only Jaffrey and Winchester had their own ambulance at the time. As more towns began adding their own ambulances, many kept DiLuzio as a backup option.
In 1975, an employee named Robert J. DiLuzio purchased both the funeral home and ambulance service from Frank Foley, and renamed the latter to R.J. DiLuzio Ambulance Service. Due to financial pressure, it restructured operations in 1977, transitioning to non-emergency transport. Keene established its own ambulance service and assumed primary 911 coverage for the towns DiLuzio had served, including Chesterfield, Nelson, Roxbury, Sullivan, Surry, and Swanzey.
The service became EMT-Intermediate certified in 1991, bringing advanced life support capabilities to the business. In 1995, it separated from the funeral home and became its own LLC, although it still operated out of the funeral home’s garage on Court Street. In 1997, a number of Cheshire County towns inquired about having DiLuzio Ambulance begin providing prehospital services to their towns once again. In order to meet this demand, DiLuzio began staffing crews 24/7 and became paramedic certified in 1998. Swanzey and Winchester became the first towns to contract with DiLuzio. The former replaced Keene’s ambulance with the new service, while the latter signed a contract for ALS coverage only, leaving BLS to its in-town Winchester EMS service.
Richmond signed a contract in 1999 for ALS and BLS coverage; that same year, DiLuzio began providing paramedic intercept. Marlow signed on for this service in 2000, alongside the towns that Marlow provided BLS for, Gilsum and Lempster. While the full list of towns utilizing this option varied over the years—and a comprehensive list may not be discoverable—it is likely that Harrisville and Marlborough were among the first alongside Marlow. Stoddard contracted for ALS service in 2007. Alstead had it at least as early as 2010.
In 2012, Harrisville began receiving BLS coverage in addition to ALS, and Marlborough expanded its contract from ALS to BLS too in 2014. Fitzwilliam and Troy had transitioned to the service for ALS by 2017, and that same year Sullivan contracted for both ALS and BLS service. Marlow also signed a short-term contract for full coverage in 2017 while it reorganized its town ambulance service. When the reorganization was complete, the town retained DiLuzio as a backup provider. However, Gilsum, which had previously had BLS coverage from Marlow until the reorganization, switched providers to DiLuzio.
By this time, the service was operating up to six ambulances in two main liveries: white with a blue stripe and silver with a blue stripe. Units were dispatched via SWNH. It added BLS coverage to Stoddard in 2018 and also expanded its coverage in Winchester that year: while the town had been utilizing the service as its ALS provider for 20 years, DiLuzio began providing daytime coverage to the town due to workday staffing issues with the volunteer membership.
In 2021, Cheshire County put together a proposal to assume responsibility for the towns that DiLuzio served by purchasing the DiLuzio equipment and hiring their employees. After negotiations broke down, in 2022 the county backed out of the proposal and instead began laying the groundwork for its own ambulance system called Cheshire County EMS.
In early 2023, the owners announced that they would be shutting down the business effective immediately. This left seven towns (Gilsum, Harrisville, Marlborough, Richmond, Stoddard, Sullivan, and Swanzey) without primary ambulance coverage, and six others (Alstead, Fitzwilliam, Marlow, Troy, Walpole, and Winchester) without ALS service. Rescue Inc., a Vermont-based EMS outfit that already served Chesterfield and Hinsdale in New Hampshire, took over temporary responsibility for the DiLuzio contracts, operating a New Hampshire division out of the two Keene fire stations. Within two months, however, all but one town had signed contracts with Cheshire County EMS for similar coverage agreements. Only Sullivan went in a different direction, selecting Keene for its EMS needs. With this, the DiLuzio name ceased ambulance operations for the first time in over 70 years.
Dispatch Tone Recordings
DiLuzio Ambulance