Fire truck shortages leave some communities waiting longer for emergency response : NPR
In some communities, fire crews are delayed — not because of distance, but because of lack of equipment. Higher costs and supply chain issues are forcing some departments to wait years to get new trucks.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Fire departments in some communities do not have enough trucks. And that can delay the time it takes them to respond to 911 calls. Alisa Roth explains why it’s increasingly difficult for fire departments to get the trucks they need.
(soundbite of truck honking)
ALISA ROTH, BYLINE: There are fire trucks everywhere at the Rosenbauer manufacturing plant in Wyoming, Minnesota. Reds, blacks, high visibility yellows. There are huge antennas with long ladders on top and squat trucks that you might see at an airport. Two-thirds of fire trucks in the United States are made by three manufacturers, Rosenbauer and two others. Allison Niendiek is Rosenbauer’s director of marketing and sales.
ALLISON NIENDIEK: So what we’re looking at here is the heart of our cabin, right? This is simply our extruded aluminum frame, and it’s getting ready to go into the paint booth.
ROTH: Workers polish the metal so the paint adheres better. These fire trucks are expensive. Mike Kennedy is the fire chief of Ann Arbor, Michigan, who needs to replace one of his ladder trucks.
MIKE KENNEDY: This platform is going to cost 2.4 million.
ROTH: Kennedy says the old truck he’s replacing only cost $1 million in 2013, so the price has more than doubled in 12 years. And that money has to come from somewhere.
KENNEDY: Local government budgets are limited. And they’re not going to spend a lot of money on fire services when we’re competing with public works and parks and everyone else.
ROTH: It’s also going to take a long time to get the new fire truck.
KENNEDY: It’s a four-year time frame.
ROTH: He has two spare trucks, but they’re both 15 years old, which is downright geriatric for firefighting years. Kennedy says his service aims to respond to a call in six minutes or less. Without enough trucks, they would have to send one from another part of town, which could lengthen response times. It’s bad when there’s a fire or a heart attack. Part of the problem is the nature of the industry. Most fire trucks are made to order and not mass produced like other vehicles. For example, in New York, equipment must be able to reach tall buildings. In rural Minnesota, on the other hand, there may be no fire hydrants, so firefighters must pump water from a lake instead.
(SOUNDBITE OF METAL CLANKING)
ROTH: Back at Rosenbauer Group headquarters, workers build these trucks, customizing everything from the amount of water they carry to the precise shade of red, yellow or black they’re painted. This customization also means that manufacturers require special parts. The industry has been grappling with supply chain issues since COVID.
KYLE WENDLAND: We’re not an engine manufacturer, are we? We therefore source our motors from suppliers.
ROTH: Kyle Wendland is director of supply chain at Rosenbauer.
WENDLAND: There are different engines, depending on the truck and the requirements of the truck. So we need to have these engines produced, built and delivered. Motors aren’t small, are they? They take time to produce, time to build and deliver to us.
ROTH: The company says parts and materials have also become more expensive. Still, critics say the high costs and delays are intentional. This spring, two U.S. senators, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Jim Banks of Indiana, opened an investigation into the possible consequences of these delays for public safety. And in August, firefighters in La Crosse, Wisconsin, filed a lawsuit against the big three companies, saying they were working together to keep supplies limited and prices high. The companies have denied this. The Ann Arbor Fire Department is still waiting for its new truck. It should arrive by the end of the decade.
For NPR News, my name is Alisa Roth, I live in Wyoming, Minnesota.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOS DEF SONG, “HIP HOP”)
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