Editor’s Opinion Ed Ballam
Who would have thought it, apparatus taking up to 30 months to be delivered and some aerials approaching $2 million?
I remember when an American LaFrance aerial, built in the late 1990s, was the first to break the $1 million mark. It was unthinkable, like $5 per gallon gasoline and waiting a year for an apparatus. Oh, both of those have already happened.
We’d like to think the businesses involved with the fire and emergency medical services are immune to economic pressure like inflation, labor shortages, supply chain issues, and exponential price hikes on raw materials. Sadly, they are not, and businesses in the fire service industry are forced to pass along costs and delays to their consumers just like any other enterprise. There is no exemption for providing goods to noble professionals like firefighters and EMTs.
Fire departments are increasingly facing long lead times for apparatus and enormous price increases that often outpace the ability to raise the funds to meet the costs.
I have been writing about the fire service industry for 25 years, and I can confidently say the current state of the industry is unprecedented. The global pandemic, the shift in labor, and global shortages of materials and parts have become a perfect storm, creating delays and price increases well beyond the control of the people making fire apparatus and equipment. Having personally visited every major apparatus maker in the nation, as well as most of the medium-size builders and many smaller ones, I can say, without hesitation, that the owners, managers, and workers are proud to make great products at fair prices across the board, as quickly as feasible. They are not solely motivated by profit, although they recognize they must be profitable to remain in business.
It pains them to tell firefighters they don’t have enough money to buy their dream truck or they’ll have to wait months, or maybe years, for their new apparatus after they’ve been selling bake beans and barbecued chicken for 10 years to make the purchase.
It’s a sad state of affairs, but it’s all attributable to business concepts that far exceed my ability to fully comprehend, let alone explain. I am just a guy with some firefighting and EMT experience who knows how to knit together a few words.
What I do know is the issues aren’t going to resolve themselves for a long while, with virtually every apparatus manufacturer reporting extended delivery dates. That’s not welcome news to a society having grown used to on-demand, instant gratification.
The economic conditions have forced fire departments nationwide to rethink their apparatus acquisition strategies. Some are looking for demonstrator rigs with short delivery times. There are pros and cons with that. You might get a bit of a discount on the apparatus, and you’ll probably get it sooner than a custom-ordered apparatus, but you’ll likely sacrifice some features you might really want, and that would be a discussion to have within the individual fire departments.
Some fire departments have opted to look for used apparatus, which also has its pluses and minuses. A used apparatus will be less costly than a comparable new unit and be available almost immediately. But, once again, the department will be faced with compromising and having to determine if the savings in time and money are worth the benefit of customization. Again, only the individual firefighters will be able to answer that question. And, with a used rig, there’s the added risk factor involving condition. Is the available apparatus someone else’s headache that you’ll be acquiring? How well has it been maintained? Will the initial cost savings be eaten up by costly repairs and modifications to make it work for your department?
The third, and perhaps best, option is to plan far in advance of when you’ll need the apparatus and lock in the costs and delivery dates now with iron-clad agreements that ensure the department gets what it wants, when it wants, at an agreed-on price with no surprises. Remember last month when we learned about the rural department facing an unexpected $200,000 cost increase from a manufacturer long after the contract had been signed because it was commercially impractical to fill the contract under the agreed terms? Nobody wants to be in that predicament.
There’s a saying that patience is a virtue, and if ever there was an application for that adage, it is now, buying fire apparatus in this economy. Anticipate needs far in advance, be ready to wait for the apparatus to be delivered, and work with the manufacturers to make sure you get what you need when you need it.
I know many of the apparatus makers out there personally, and I can assure you there is no conspiracy to drive up the cost of apparatus. They are not motivated by greed. They are all making genuine efforts to deliver the best-quality products they can at the best prices in a timely fashion. Plan ahead, and just be patient.
