Senators Suspect Private Equity Is Harming Firefighters

Pumper vehicles and tiller apparatuses are terms that likely won't mean much to you. To the mayor of Carmel, Ind., they mean a lot. They're both types of firetrucks, and in Sue Finkam's telling, they've gotten harder and pricier to obtain. She says the estimated price of the former jumped 10% in 2024 compared to the year prior, and the wait time for the latter now exceeds four years. As the New York Times reports, many in the firefighting equipment industry say those are pandemic-related impacts still at play; supply-chain issues slowed production just as stimulus grants spurred an increase in orders. Fire officials see another bogeyman: private equity investment.

The PE firm American Industrial Partners has spent 20 years amassing specialty vehicle companies—firetruck manufacturers among them—that now operate as a single company called Rev Group. Company executives promised to grow profit margins through the consolidation. As the Times reported earlier this year, there certainly has been plenty of consolidation in the industry: as much as 80% of the firetruck market is now controlled by Rev Group and two other companies. But automating the progress comes with its limitations, notes the Times, as most truck orders come with "incredibly specific requests."

Rev Group now has a backlog of $4 billion in orders, and expects it could take as long as three years to get through it. That has a number of senators concerned. Democrat Elizabeth Warren and Republican Jim Banks say they've fielded a sea of concerns from numerous fire departments and have sent a letter to the International Association of Fire Fighters, the largest firefighter union on the continent, seeking more information on "the adverse impact of private equity consolidation on firefighters and communities." FireRescue1 reports Republican Josh Hawley and Democrat Andy Kim sent a letter to the CEOs of those three leading apparatus manufacturers earlier this month asking for an itemized list of delays and an explanation for them. (More fire truck stories.)