Inside the Apparatus Industry
Weathering the Economic Storm: The apparatus industry seems to be doing well despite the economy’s effect on other parts of the fire service
Story & Photos by Bob Vaccaro

The economy has been wreaking havoc on the fire service all around the country. Station
closures and firefighter layoffs are taking place as you read this. However, the fire apparatus industry seems to be weathering the storm with announcements of new contracts for vehicles in both large cities and smaller suburban areas.

Also coming into play: the 2010 EPA engine requirements, which are adding significant costs to the base price of an apparatus. Many manufacturers have stockpiled 2007-compliant engines and will sell these apparatus until their supplies run out, likely around September 2010.

As I comb through the apparatus manufacturer Web sites, I see many more demo vehicles being built and advertised to departments around the country. Most are being built with the most common options sought by fire departments. If you buy a demo, you can save money and take delivery a lot faster than if you had a custom unit built. Plus, if you attend any of the fire service shows, I can guarantee you’ll see a lot of deal-making right there on the exhibit floor as departments buy vehicles on site.

The other area that’s picking up some steam: refurbs. Many departments are holding onto older vehicles, bringing them up to the current NFPA 1910 standards and, therefore, saving a lot of money by avoiding purchasing new apparatus.

Let’s turn now to some of those contract announcements I referenced above:

Ferrara is building 20 rear-mounted aerials and five heavy rescues for the City of New York, 10 vehicles for Plaquemines Parish, La. (outside of New Orleans), as well as vehicles for Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, Houston and Knoxville, Tenn.

Crimson signed a 3-year contract with Chicago to provide 30 custom aerials. They also delivered nine custom pumpers with the possibility of delivering 50 total over the life of the contract. They’ve already delivered 131 pumpers to the city since 1992.

E-One has been awarded a contract for 10 Titan Force 4 x 4 ARFF vehicles for the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command and 11 Titan Force 6 x 6 ARFF units for the U.S. Army Defense Logistics Command.

Piece just delivered 12 industrial vehicles, all built on an Arrow XT Chassis, to Venezuela. The order consists of pumper tankers, heavy rescues and aerials. Also ordered: 15 Contender Series pumpers for the U.S. Army, six Arrow XT pumpers for Arlington, Va., and six pumpers for Jiangsu Province in China.

KME has orders for 23 pumpers built on its severe service chassis from the Los Angeles City Fire Department; 15 pumpers, four tractor-drawn tiller Quints and a tender for the Los Angeles County Fire Department; and 10 wildland units for the U.S. Forest Service.

Seagrave is in the process of delivering 12-plus Marauder II/Aerialscope II tower ladders to the FDNY with an add-on order for more Marauder II pumpers (in addition to the already delivered 71 engines).

As you can see from this small list, the industry seems to be doing well despite what the current economic situation is doing to other aspects of the fire service. Let’s all hope this trend continues, saving firefighter jobs and manufacturing jobs.

Bob Vaccaro has more than 30 years of fire-service experience. He is a former chief of the Deer Park (N.Y.) Fire Department. Vaccaro has also worked for the Insurance Services Office, the New York Fire Patrol and several major commercial insurance companies as a senior loss-control consultant. Vaccaro is a life member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

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