Gloucester (MA) has contracted to purchase two new fire engines and an ambulances with a price tag of $2.4 million, according to a report published by the Gloucester Daily Times.

The newspaper reported the city council voted unanimously to enter the contract without delay to avoid being hit with an anticipated $110,000 price increase.

The engine will take about 20 months to complete and the ambulance will take about 500 days, according to the newspaper.

The new apparatus will allow the city to retire some older units and maintain a fleet of six apparatus, according to the report.

Marion Body Works, a leading national manufacturer of commercial truck bodies, fire & emergency apparatus, custom cabs, custom engineered vehicles, and defense bodies, announces plans for expansion. This milestone marks an exciting new chapter in the company’s 117-year history of family ownership.

As of May 1, Marion Body Works has acquired additional manufacturing space located in Shawano, Wisconsin, just 22 miles east of their main headquarters. The building encompasses 113,000 square feet of manufacturing space and the adjacent 7,000 square foot office includes two training rooms, an employee lounge, and numerous meeting/conference rooms. The next few months will involve executing plans to transition the commercial truck body product line to the Shawano facility. The company is targeting fall of 2022 for full production at the new location. 

“It is an undisputable fact that our customers’ need for commercial truck bodies has increased and so has our market share of the product. This new manufacturing space will allow us to continue serving our customers while also acting as a catalyst for continued growth of the product line at Marion Body Works,” said Curt Ignacio, president and CEO of Marion Body Works. “It is important that our employees at Marion Body Works are given the tools they need to meet and exceed customer expectations. This new facility is a tremendous space addition that will enhance operations and throughput.”

Marion Body Works is proud to maintain its headquarters at 211 W. Ramsdell Street in Marion, Wisconsin. The company will continue to grow the product lines being manufactured at the main Marion campus. The addition of the new Shawano facility solidifies Marion Body Works’ position for growth and communicates the strength of its industry presence for generations to come.

“The new commercial production facility is not just to help maintain and grow our market-leading presence in this industry, but to make Marion Body Works a market-leading employer in this new community and throughout Northeast Wisconsin.” Ignacio continued, “Regardless of their facility of origin, all products with the Marion Body Works name will bear the same high quality our customers have come to rely on.”

Seagrave—Bladensburg (MD) Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad pumper. Marauder stainless steel tilt cab and chassis; Cummins X12 500-hp engine; Hale Qmax 1,250-gpm pump; 500-gallon polypropylene water tank. Dealer: Tim Massey, Chesapeake Fire, Jessup, MD.

MORE FIRE APPARATUS ARTICLES>>

By Alan M. Petrillo

Northfield Volunteer Fire Company put together a truck committee to look into replacing its aging rescue truck with a shorter, more nimble rig that could negotiate the tight residential driveways in the company’s coverage area. The committee developed the specs for the rescue, then spent the next two years researching rescues built by five manufacturers.

Jack Hodges, Northfield fire commissioner and truck committee chair, says Northfield’s previous rescue had a six-seat crew cab, but the new specs called for only five firefighters in the cab, and a shorter wheelbase on a single rear axle, not to exceed 30 feet in overall length. “We went to trade shows and checked out apparatus and the equipment they carried,” Hodges says, “and met with 4 Guys Fire Trucks, Marion Body Works, Spartan Emergency Response, Rosenbauer, and SVI Trucks. We also got the opportunity to drive demos built by all five manufacturers. In the end, we chose to have 4 Guys build our new rescue.”

Northfield is an all-volunteer fire company with 41 active firefighters, eight of whom are Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), and includes four junior firefighters, Hodges says. “We are a very rural area that serves as a bedroom community,” he says. “Our district is 12 square miles and covers a population of 2,800 in relatively hilly, wooded country, along with six miles of limited access highway.”

Ryan Crichton, Northfield’s chief, notes the committee’s specs made provisions for a small command area in the crew cab, with a pull-out desk opposite the middle seat. “The cab is set up for five firefighters, with four of them in self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) seats,” Crichton says. “We also needed room for our EMS (emergency medical services) equipment, so there’s a custom cabinet on the officer’s side of the body with a pull-out tray for our equipment. The Office of EMS at the Connecticut Department of Public Health sets the requirements of what we need to carry, which is almost everything on an ambulance except for the gurney.”

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