Private equity consolidates ownership of custom fire engine manufacturing. New trucks now cost $1.2 million

Escalating costs and concern over anti-competitive practices in the custom fire engine industry are at the center of a complaint filed by the city of Fullerton with the California Attorney General’s Office.

Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung said the city’s complaint filed this month was made on behalf of “every municipality in the country that has a fire department” and has struggled in recent years to afford and get in a timely manner fire engines in an age of industry monopolization.

“We had authorized it, budgeted it out, and years later, not only do we not have the fire engine… we haven’t even been able to order it,” Jung said of Fullerton’s most recent experience trying to purchase new equipment, adding, “What we budgeted for that fire apparatus three years ago is no longer what it costs now in 2025.”
In 2019, the city purchased a fire engine for about $751,000, with a build time of roughly two years. However, by 2023, the cost of two engines rose to $1.2 million each, and the estimated delivery time stretched from two years to four.
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In May, the International Association of Firefighters accused one private equity firm of “aggressively consolidating” two dozen or so fire apparatus and emergency vehicle manufacturers into its holding company over the last decade.

https://www.ocregister.com/2025/09/23/city-of-fullerton-looks-to-state-attorney-generals-office-for-help-with-fire-truck-prices-delays/