The Case for Custom Fire Apparatus: The importance of custom in a standardized world.

By John Hanson

I started selling fire apparatus in 2005. The first truck I sold was a custom pumper that cost about $265,000 and was delivered in roughly six months. Today, that same truck would cost somewhere between $850,000 and $1 million and could take up to four years to build.

There are plenty of reasons given for this, raw material costs, labor costs, labor shortages, COVID, NFPA changes, EPA requirements, and a long list of others. All of those factors matter. But regardless of the explanation, the result is the same: fire apparatus cost more and take much longer to deliver than they used to.

One solution that often comes up is the idea that customization is the problem, and that apparatus design should be standardized (don’t say that too loud, NFPA might be listening). The argument is that departments are asking for too much, slowing production, and that the fire service as a whole should move toward simpler, more standardized trucks. In this article, I want to use a simple analogy to explain why I believe custom apparatus are still critical to the fire service.

Before getting into that, I want to be clear about one thing. I do believe departments should standardize their fleets, whether they are rural or urban, career or volunteer. Having similar apparatus across the fleet cuts down on training time, keeps mechanics happier, and simplifies the process when it’s time to order the next truck since the baseline design is already established.

I’m going to simplify this by going back to my high school job at a pizzeria. Much like fire apparatus production, our pizzeria prepared raw materials and then built custom-made pizzas along an assembly line. We offered three sizes, thick or thin crust, more than 15 toppings, and the option for pickup or delivery.

The Thursday before the weekend, our busiest time, we would prep all of the raw materials. That meant making dough, shredding cheese, cutting vegetables, and ordering toppings like sausage, pepperoni, bacon, and others. Late Friday afternoon, the custom orders would start coming in. One might be a large thin crust with everything, while the next could be a small thick-crust cheese. The assembly line built each pizza as the order came in, adjusting the process to match what the customer wanted. They then went into the oven, and cooking time varied based on size and how many toppings were on the pizza. It wasn’t the fastest process, but customers got exactly what they ordered and were happy.

Now imagine if the pizzeria only offered a medium, thin-crust sausage, mushroom, onion, and green pepper pizza, called a SMOG in the business. How much easier would Thursday prep be? We’d only have to prep those items. The assembly process would be more efficient and consistent during the rush, and cook times would be predictable, reducing the need to constantly open and close the oven to check doneness. This would clearly benefit the pizzeria, but what about the customer?

There’s no doubt the customer would get their pizza faster due to the streamlined process. But the pizza might be too large or too small for their needs. It might include toppings they don’t like, or they might prefer thick crust instead of thin. Would the pizza meet their needs? Technically, yes.  But I think most of us would still prefer to customize our pizza.

The same can be said about fire apparatus. Sure, every department could function with a 1,500 GPM pumper, 1,000 gallons of water, a four-person cab, two crosslays, a deck gun, a 2½-inch blitz line off the rear, and 1,000 feet of 5-inch supply hose. But would they function better if they could customize the apparatus? Maybe they want a six-person cab, three crosslays, a light tower, 500 gallons of water, a low hosebed, a short wheelbase, or something else entirely. The list can go on and on.

The point I’m trying to make is that every fire department has specific apparatus needs based on many factors including staffing, population served, call volume, level of EMS provided, response area, and more.

Those factors require the ability to customize a fire apparatus, and at Spencer Manufacturing, that’s what we do best. We don’t limit our customers to a specific pump manufacturer or model, apparatus length or height, water capacity, foam system, or lighting package. Our staff sits down with the customer and starts by listening to their needs and requirements. From there, we design an apparatus that fits their mission.  Whether it’s an initial-attack with minimal height for parking garages, or an engine for a small volunteer department that needs to handle structure fires, wildland fires, and rescue work.

This is just my opinion, but the next time you’re ordering pizza for your firefighters, tell them you’re ordering a medium thin-crust SMOG and let me know how it goes.

Stay safe.