Pierce Manufacturing, an Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) company, received an order for nine Pierce® Arrow XT™ custom pumpers from the DeKalb County Fire and Rescue Department in Georgia. This is the department’s first purchase of Pierce apparatus. The vehicles will be delivered beginning in early 2014.
“Through our regular competitive bid process, Pierce came in a little higher in terms of price, yet they fully met the specifications that we identified. Our Fleet Maintenance Division completed an assessment of the metro Atlanta area and found Pierce to have a lower overall cost to operate than other apparatus manufacturers,” said DeKalb County Fire Chief, Edward O’Brien. “Pierce’s 100-year history and ‘single source’ approach – matched with a certified local dealer to service and support these trucks – is hugely important. With Pierce, we’re not dealing with multiple companies.”
“The opportunity to build these Pierce custom pumpers for one of the busiest fire departments in the country is an acknowledgement of our team’s ability to engineer and deliver state-of-the-art apparatus at a lower overall cost of ownership, and then back them with the industry’s best dealer network,” said Jim Johnson, Oshkosh Corporation executive vice president and president, Fire & Emergency. “For many years to come, these trucks will provide excellent service to the citizens and taxpayers of DeKalb County.”
Each of the nine pumpers feature a 400 hp engine, a galvanneal steel body, a 10-inch raised roof cab, and seating for five firefighters. The apparatus also feature Pierce Command Zone® advanced electronics and control system, a 1000 gpm water pump, a 500-gallon water tank, a 30-gallon foam cell, and three crosslays.
“We’re a very busy department, with some engine companies responding to 5,000 calls per year, and we need apparatus that are reliable and durable,” noted Chief O’Brien. “Our protection area includes high-rises, suburban communities, several college campuses, five hospitals, four large shopping malls and the second busiest airport in the state. We have a little bit of everything down here.”
DeKalb is the third most populous county in the state and is located in the metro Atlanta area, with close to 700,000 residents. DeKalb County Fire and Rescue Department responded to more than 98,000 calls in 2012 providing the following services: fire suppression, emergency medical, community education, fire investigation, fire inspection, hazardous material mitigation, technical rescue, dive/swift water rescue, canine search and rescue, and fire prevention.
Pierce dealer, Ten-8 Fire and Safety Equipment of Georgia, provides local service and support through its full service facilities in Forsyth, Georgia.
