Can you give us an introduction to yourself and US Fire Apparatus?
I’ve been in this industry for about 45 years. I started as a volunteer fireman, became a pipe fitter and welder, and built a firetruck on the side when we needed one. That’s how the business started, and it’s been very rewarding. US Fire Apparatus is not a new company; we’ve been in business for years. We specialize in custom chassis and commercial trucks, focusing on quick deliveries. Many manufacturers offer deliveries in two to three years, but we work with customers to meet their needs more quickly.
What makes your builds stand out from the other exhibitors here at the show?
We build the heaviest product in the industry. I’ve been called Mr. Heavy Duty because of that. We use a lot of extruded aluminum products that are welded together, creating the heaviest bodies in the industry. We pride ourselves on the construction, thickness, and type of materials used. Our trucks are built to ensure firefighter safety, which is my top priority. They can withstand accidents, and firefighters walk away safely.
Tell us about what you’re showcasing here at the stand today.
We’re showcasing a wide range of products, from custom chassis to commercial pumper tankers. For example, we have a custom chassis with a 1500 gallons-per-minute pump and a 1500-gallon tank, perfect for mid-size rural departments. This setup allows fire departments to bring a lot of water to the fire and have the capacity needed once they arrive.
Can you give us more details about these products on offer?
Behind me we have one of our custom chassis that we offer to a lot of different customers around the world. It’s just a standard medium four-door, six-man cab but the really unique features of the truck are the extreme aluminum body, the heaviest fire body in the industry hands down, roll-up doors. This truck has a 1500 GPM pump, a 1000-gallon tank, but the configuration can be whatever the fire department wants.
We have a wide variety of trucks and pumpers that we can offer a lot of different customers around the world. Additionally, at FDIC we have a Kenworth Tanker Pumper. It’s on a Kenworth chassis, a big tanker, 3000-gallon tank, 1500 GPM pump, has a deck gun, and features a full tank compartment as you see on the side. Also, a dump valve, rear dump valves, and we offer side dump valves.
We really pride ourselves again on the customisation of different vehicles from tankers, pumpers, industrial pumpers. It’s just a great offering that we have here at FDIC.
How has the market and visitors responded to your products?
The response has been huge. Many people are glad to see me back in the business of building fire trucks. We’ve had a lot of repeat business, and new as well, which is great and quite rare.
For those who want to know more about you and your products, how can they reach you?
It’s very easy. You can visit our website at usfireapparatus.com or email me at Chris@usfire.com.
Thank you, Chris, for giving us insight into the incredible products you have on the showcase today.
Thank you, Rebecca. This is one of our biggest shows of the year with 36,000 attendees. It’s a great exhibit and showcase of our products.
To read the full article, see our last issue here.
To watch the full video see here: FDIC: US Fire Apparatus Interview
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Rebecca Spayne Managing Editor, International Fire Buyer
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