By Rudy Miller
The Express-Times
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown has joined a growing list of cities suing a private equity firm, its subsidiaries and a select few fire truck manufacturers for creating a monopoly on custom fire trucks and chassis.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court accuses American Industrial Partners of buying up struggling fire truck makers and eliminating competitors to create a monopoly.
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“AIP disagrees with the allegations in the complaint and intends to defend itself vigorously,” said a spokesperson for the private equity firm based in New York City.
The suit accuses truck makers of price gouging, consolidating operations, closing plants and creating a backlog for the manufacture of the custom fire apparatus.
“Our fire departments do not deserve this,” the suit says. “The taxpayers those firefighters swear an oath to protect do not deserve this.”
Los Angeles sued American Industrial Partners in February, according to a news release. So did Milwaukee, a published report says. San Diego and Portland, Oregon, sued earlier this month, according to published reports.
The International Association of Fire Fighters and the American Economic Liberties Project issued a joint statement last year calling for a federal investigation.
“We cannot allow Wall Street interests to put profits over public safety,” said IAFF President Edward Kelly in the statement. Three companies, including one controlled by American Industrial Partners, control two-thirds of the market, according to the statement.
“This consolidation is textbook monopolization — leading to price gouging, plant closures, and years-long delivery backlogs that put communities in danger,” American Economic Liberties Project Executive Director Nidhi Hegde said in the statement.
Allentown’s lawsuit says it purchased a custom aerial fire truck for $1.46 million in 2021. By 2023, the same truck cost $2 million, the suit says. The cost of a pumper went from $780,000 to more than $900,000 in four years, the suit says.
It took 400 days for the city to get the aerial it bought in 2021. The pumper purchased in 2024 had an estimated 1,100-day waiting period.
“In just over three years, the delivery window nearly tripled,” the suit says.
The lawsuit asks a judge to break up the monopoly and award unspecified damages to the City of Allentown.
The Allentown lawsuit was filed by Philadelphia attorney Jerry R. DeSiderato. He will be joined in the lawsuit by Los Angeles attorney Catherine S. Simonsen and San Diego attorney John P. Fiske.
What are you seeing at your department?
How long are your current build times, and how are delays impacting staffing, response or fleet readiness?
FireRescue1 readers respond:
- The long lead time for fire apparatus and ambulance puts are old front-line units in further troubles. We also have to strategically start asking cities for trucks alot earlier so we can get the trucks on time. We are held to a standard and we can’t keep those standards with the wait time of these builders.
- The same engines (essentially) that cost 3 to 4 hundred thousand a decade or less ago now cost well over a million and take 3 to 4 years to get delivery, it’s pretty obvious what’s going on here, its a total monopoly that’s causing not only for the FD’s but towns and city budgets are not able to cope.
- My volunteer fire department bought in its 75 years of service, bought a used Diamond T engine and a used Seagrave, then two new GMC American Marsh, then a new Dodge American LaFrance. Then, since the 60s, three new Ford Youngs and a Bison Young, then two new Maxims. In the 80s, a new Custom Young. Over time, we had some of the engines rebuilt along with a Mack pumper we purchased used from FDNY. In the 90s two KME pumpers were purchased. In 2000, two new Crimsons were purchased and in 2010, a new Spartan was purchased and have been the last engine we have purchased while our county fire service has purchased Pierce apparatus. But my list shows the apparatus builders that went out of business, on which many fire services depended on for years. The county approves and advises what the volunteer fire companies can purchase and place in service. Some have new apparatus not in service, waiting for the county to approve their use. Some have now placed orders for new apparatus and now learning about the price increases and if they will get state money to purchase the apparatus.
- Hopefully legal action prevails as firefighters’ lives are potentially in peril.
- Ordered two pumpers in 2023 for 1.3 million each, had pre-con meeting 11/23. Trucks will “hopefully” be delivered by the end of this year and the vendor recently told us that if we ordered the exact same trucks today they would cost 1.7 million each and are over 1100 days out now.
- Why are we allowing this to happen? With the astronomical costs, why not have a custom apparatus manufactured by a fabricator or company that doesn’t solely manufacture fire apparatus, and abandon the NFPA 1901 standard, which we all know is simply a different mechanism for monopolization of the fire apparatus manufacturing industry. If we create true competition, we can eliminate these companies’ ability to hold our profession and citizens hostage!
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