Show-Me State Times

Chairman Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ranking Member Andy Kim (D-N.J.) led a hearing in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Management to examine private equity’s influence on the fire apparatus market. The session included testimony from fire chiefs, union presidents, and industry leaders.

Over the past two decades, private-equity firms have acquired independent firetruck manufacturers, resulting in three major companies now controlling 70-80 percent of the market. During the hearing, Senator Hawley addressed an executive from REV Group, a company established by a private-equity firm in 2006: “Your profits have grown five times over the last five years to 250 million dollars, but nobody can get their equipment.”

Senator Hawley also discussed changes in delivery timelines for new fire engines: “Before, a new fire engine order took between six months and a year, standard, to get delivered. Today, those orders take two years on the low end, four years on the high end,” citing corporate manufacturers’ anticompetitive practices as contributing factors.

Kansas City Fire Chief Dennis Rubin described how his department had to use Chevy Suburbans with firefighting gear stored in trunks due to delays in receiving new engines.

Addressing industry representatives at the hearing, Senator Hawley said: “I just want to say to our corporate friends, you know, you don’t have to wait for prosecution, or for a study, or for anything else to do the right thing. . . . In the meantime, I hope that we’ll see some action on the part of this body and the FTC and anybody else who has a piece of it to make sure that this industry begins to function again for the people of this country and the firefighters who keep it safe,” he concluded.

Previously, Senators Hawley and Kim sent a letter warning industry leaders that their business models were reducing available fire station vehicles, increasing costs for departments, and undermining readiness.