By Chris Mc Loone

For the fire industry, 2016 continued the rebound many markets have been going through since the economy began its recovery.

Several examples came in the form of mergers and acquisitions (M&A)-some small and some that generated a lot of buzz throughout the industry. This market is a mature market, and the M&A activity is not likely to stop, although the pace at which it occurs will probably fluctuate. For those companies that merged, often they enjoy expanded research, development, and engineering resources at their disposal to improve existing products and develop new ones. For those remaining largely independent, the economy has rebounded to the point where they can reinvest in their products, and orders for new equipment are increasing.

Review of 2016

At Pierce Manufacturing, 2016 was a good year on different fronts. “We had a good year,” says Matt McLeish, vice president, sales and marketing. “It was almost a duplicate of our FY15 in general. Our dealers continued to shine for us.” McLeish says that Pierce invested in its dealer network in 2016, adding service capabilities across the country. “In an 18-month period, they added in excess of 200,000 square feet of service facilities throughout North America,” he says. “So, it was really an opportunity for us to work with them on moving and developing their infrastructure. They’ve really gone from being truck salespeople to really strong business dealerships with a wide variety of products, which makes them a lot more stable. McLeish also cites the company’s Ascendant aerial ladder as part of the company’s 2016 success. “The other story of the year is our Ascendant product and the tremendous success it has had in the ladder market.”

Rod Carringer, chief marketing officer for Task Force Tips, points to individual market segments to chart 2016’s success. “Municipal emergency response and the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business in North America have been especially robust from a growth standpoint this year,” he says. “Internationally, because of geopolitical issues in some cases, the emergency response market has been much softer. Industrially, with the price per barrel of oil at its current level, both domestic and international sales into the petrochemical business sector have been very soft.”

At Spartan Motors, it has been a busy year, according to John Slawson, president, Emergency Response Business Unit, Spartan Motors. “We’ve introduced a number of new industry-first safety technologies in our RV chassis segment, we broke ground on a new truck assembly plant in our Fleet Vehicles & Services division, and we’ll formally introduce our new S-180 concept to the Emergency Response community this year,” he says. “It’s also been a year of rediscovery in terms of the global Spartan Motors brand. The foundation of the Spartan Motors brand is the notion that we build the very best heavy-duty, purpose-built vehicles on the road. We revisited that heritage in the past 18 months, and we’re seeing the results as they relate to the larger Spartan portfolio, with double-digit increases in sales, gross margin trending up, and a significant increase in operating income. Our renewed focus on operational excellence applies to every category in which we operate, and our Emergency Response team is up to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Paul Darley, president and CEO of W.S. Darley & Co., comments, “2015 saw sales for fire apparatus up more than 10 percent, and fire apparatus manufacturers came into 2016 with one of the strongest backlogs in years. New fire apparatus orders for the United States remained strong in the first quarter but then sputtered in the second quarter. New orders rebounded nicely in the thi

By Chris Mc Loone

For the fire industry, 2016 continued the rebound many markets have been going through since the economy began its recovery.

Several examples came in the form of mergers and acquisitions (M&A)-some small and some that generated a lot of buzz throughout the industry. This market is a mature market, and the M&A activity is not likely to stop, although the pace at which it occurs will probably fluctuate. For those companies that merged, often they enjoy expanded research, development, and engineering resources at their disposal to improve existing products and develop new ones. For those remaining largely independent, the economy has rebounded to the point where they can reinvest in their products, and orders for new equipment are increasing.

Review of 2016

At Pierce Manufacturing, 2016 was a good year on different fronts. “We had a good year,” says Matt McLeish, vice president, sales and marketing. “It was almost a duplicate of our FY15 in general. Our dealers continued to shine for us.” McLeish says that Pierce invested in its dealer network in 2016, adding service capabilities across the country. “In an 18-month period, they added in excess of 200,000 square feet of service facilities throughout North America,” he says. “So, it was really an opportunity for us to work with them on moving and developing their infrastructure. They’ve really gone from being truck salespeople to really strong business dealerships with a wide variety of products, which makes them a lot more stable. McLeish also cites the company’s Ascendant aerial ladder as part of the company’s 2016 success. “The other story of the year is our Ascendant product and the tremendous success it has had in the ladder market.”

Rod Carringer, chief marketing officer for Task Force Tips, points to individual market segments to chart 2016’s success. “Municipal emergency response and the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business in North America have been especially robust from a growth standpoint this year,” he says. “Internationally, because of geopolitical issues in some cases, the emergency response market has been much softer. Industrially, with the price per barrel of oil at its current level, both domestic and international sales into the petrochemical business sector have been very soft.”

At Spartan Motors, it has been a busy year, according to John Slawson, president, Emergency Response Business Unit, Spartan Motors. “We’ve introduced a number of new industry-first safety technologies in our RV chassis segment, we broke ground on a new truck assembly plant in our Fleet Vehicles & Services division, and we’ll formally introduce our new S-180 concept to the Emergency Response community this year,” he says. “It’s also been a year of rediscovery in terms of the global Spartan Motors brand. The foundation of the Spartan Motors brand is the notion that we build the very best heavy-duty, purpose-built vehicles on the road. We revisited that heritage in the past 18 months, and we’re seeing the results as they relate to the larger Spartan portfolio, with double-digit increases in sales, gross margin trending up, and a significant increase in operating income. Our renewed focus on operational excellence applies to every category in which we operate, and our Emergency Response team is up to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Paul Darley, president and CEO of W.S. Darley & Co., comments, “2015 saw sales for fire apparatus up more than 10 percent, and fire apparatus manufacturers came into 2016 with one of the strongest backlogs in years. New fire apparatus orders for the United States remained strong in the first quarter but then sputtered in the second quarter. New orders rebounded nicely in the thi

By Chris Mc Loone

For the fire industry, 2016 continued the rebound many markets have been going through since the economy began its recovery.

Several examples came in the form of mergers and acquisitions (M&A)-some small and some that generated a lot of buzz throughout the industry. This market is a mature market, and the M&A activity is not likely to stop, although the pace at which it occurs will probably fluctuate. For those companies that merged, often they enjoy expanded research, development, and engineering resources at their disposal to improve existing products and develop new ones. For those remaining largely independent, the economy has rebounded to the point where they can reinvest in their products, and orders for new equipment are increasing.

Review of 2016

At Pierce Manufacturing, 2016 was a good year on different fronts. “We had a good year,” says Matt McLeish, vice president, sales and marketing. “It was almost a duplicate of our FY15 in general. Our dealers continued to shine for us.” McLeish says that Pierce invested in its dealer network in 2016, adding service capabilities across the country. “In an 18-month period, they added in excess of 200,000 square feet of service facilities throughout North America,” he says. “So, it was really an opportunity for us to work with them on moving and developing their infrastructure. They’ve really gone from being truck salespeople to really strong business dealerships with a wide variety of products, which makes them a lot more stable. McLeish also cites the company’s Ascendant aerial ladder as part of the company’s 2016 success. “The other story of the year is our Ascendant product and the tremendous success it has had in the ladder market.”

Rod Carringer, chief marketing officer for Task Force Tips, points to individual market segments to chart 2016’s success. “Municipal emergency response and the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business in North America have been especially robust from a growth standpoint this year,” he says. “Internationally, because of geopolitical issues in some cases, the emergency response market has been much softer. Industrially, with the price per barrel of oil at its current level, both domestic and international sales into the petrochemical business sector have been very soft.”

At Spartan Motors, it has been a busy year, according to John Slawson, president, Emergency Response Business Unit, Spartan Motors. “We’ve introduced a number of new industry-first safety technologies in our RV chassis segment, we broke ground on a new truck assembly plant in our Fleet Vehicles & Services division, and we’ll formally introduce our new S-180 concept to the Emergency Response community this year,” he says. “It’s also been a year of rediscovery in terms of the global Spartan Motors brand. The foundation of the Spartan Motors brand is the notion that we build the very best heavy-duty, purpose-built vehicles on the road. We revisited that heritage in the past 18 months, and we’re seeing the results as they relate to the larger Spartan portfolio, with double-digit increases in sales, gross margin trending up, and a significant increase in operating income. Our renewed focus on operational excellence applies to every category in which we operate, and our Emergency Response team is up to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Paul Darley, president and CEO of W.S. Darley & Co., comments, “2015 saw sales for fire apparatus up more than 10 percent, and fire apparatus manufacturers came into 2016 with one of the strongest backlogs in years. New fire apparatus orders for the United States remained strong in the first quarter but then sputtered in the second quarter. New orders rebounded nicely in the thi

Chris Mc Loone

I have had the opportunity to attend the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association (FAMA)/Fire and Emergency Manufacturers and Services Association (FEMSA) annual meeting for five years now.

One of the reasons I enjoy going to this event is that I always walk away with an idea of what outside influences impact the companies that supply us with our fire apparatus and equipment. It’s nice to step out of the end user world to learn more about the supplier world.

This year and last year, the event featured a panel of four fire chiefs from different regions who got a chance to address a joint session comprising FAMA and FEMSA members. As the panel concluded, each chief got a chance to say a few words to their captive audience. All four panelists were adamant that the suppliers in the room work to make their disparate systems able to “talk” to each other. Each expressed a certain degree of frustration that there isn’t a way to easily pull and share data from these systems. As one remarked, these pieces of software have to be quick and simple or firefighters will set them aside.

One unspoken message of all this is that the chiefs on stage were all willing and open to use technology-a fact not often recognized amid commentary that often suggests firefighters do not accept change. One reason for this willingness is their ages. We are going to be going through a change soon in the fire service where a generation who did not grow up with computers is moving on and Generation Xers are beginning to take the helm of departments. Concurrently, a quick look around the room suggested that similar transitions are occurring across the industry on the supplier side.

Often we think of the “young” firefighters as those entering the fire service today, the ones who are so comfortable using current technologies like smart phones and tablets to do, well, just about everything. But, there is a whole core of firefighters currently moving into upper leadership positions in their fire departments who grew up as personal computers first began appearing in homes all around the country. I’m one of them. We entered the workforce before the Internet. I can still remember my first job where we had e-mail, but it was only internal. It was a big deal when we were able to get e-mail from “the outside.”

Folks in my generation, although not as adroit at using some of today’s technologies-and quite frankly hitting a technology wall, in many instances-are more open to using new technologies. We’re comfortable with vehicle data recorders, NFIRS software packages. This comfort level manifested itself in the chiefs who were on stage.

It was significant, and for the first time I realized that it is our (Generation X) time right now. We are ascending to positions of authority in our departments, and the FAMA/FEMSA members gathered are going to begin to see a change in the level at which fire departments are accepting technological advances.

Now, there’s no doubt that the kids coming in are still going to consider us dinosaurs. There’s no way around that. My fire company uses one of the many alerting apps, and I refuse to turn on my location settings because I don’t want the whole firehouse knowing where I am when I have the app open. I’m more comfortable using a mobile data terminal in the truck and am hesitant to use a tablet instead. My 30-something lieutenants and captain can’t figure that one out.

It’s a little odd to be a part o

Chris Mc Loone

I have had the opportunity to attend the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association (FAMA)/Fire and Emergency Manufacturers and Services Association (FEMSA) annual meeting for five years now.

One of the reasons I enjoy going to this event is that I always walk away with an idea of what outside influences impact the companies that supply us with our fire apparatus and equipment. It’s nice to step out of the end user world to learn more about the supplier world.

This year and last year, the event featured a panel of four fire chiefs from different regions who got a chance to address a joint session comprising FAMA and FEMSA members. As the panel concluded, each chief got a chance to say a few words to their captive audience. All four panelists were adamant that the suppliers in the room work to make their disparate systems able to “talk” to each other. Each expressed a certain degree of frustration that there isn’t a way to easily pull and share data from these systems. As one remarked, these pieces of software have to be quick and simple or firefighters will set them aside.

One unspoken message of all this is that the chiefs on stage were all willing and open to use technology-a fact not often recognized amid commentary that often suggests firefighters do not accept change. One reason for this willingness is their ages. We are going to be going through a change soon in the fire service where a generation who did not grow up with computers is moving on and Generation Xers are beginning to take the helm of departments. Concurrently, a quick look around the room suggested that similar transitions are occurring across the industry on the supplier side.

Often we think of the “young” firefighters as those entering the fire service today, the ones who are so comfortable using current technologies like smart phones and tablets to do, well, just about everything. But, there is a whole core of firefighters currently moving into upper leadership positions in their fire departments who grew up as personal computers first began appearing in homes all around the country. I’m one of them. We entered the workforce before the Internet. I can still remember my first job where we had e-mail, but it was only internal. It was a big deal when we were able to get e-mail from “the outside.”

Folks in my generation, although not as adroit at using some of today’s technologies-and quite frankly hitting a technology wall, in many instances-are more open to using new technologies. We’re comfortable with vehicle data recorders, NFIRS software packages. This comfort level manifested itself in the chiefs who were on stage.

It was significant, and for the first time I realized that it is our (Generation X) time right now. We are ascending to positions of authority in our departments, and the FAMA/FEMSA members gathered are going to begin to see a change in the level at which fire departments are accepting technological advances.

Now, there’s no doubt that the kids coming in are still going to consider us dinosaurs. There’s no way around that. My fire company uses one of the many alerting apps, and I refuse to turn on my location settings because I don’t want the whole firehouse knowing where I am when I have the app open. I’m more comfortable using a mobile data terminal in the truck and am hesitant to use a tablet instead. My 30-something lieutenants and captain can’t figure that one out.

It’s a little odd to be a part o