When the Ladder Becomes a Cage: Fire Apparatus Consolidation and Its Community Consequences

A Small Industry, Big Stakes

The fire apparatus industry has always been small but essential. Trucks are not optional purchases; they are lifelines, built to protect communities and the firefighters who serve them. Yet today, the industry is struggling under the weight of consolidation, soaring costs, and unprecedented delays.

Three manufacturers — Oshkosh (Pierce), REV Group, and Rosenbauer America — now control up to 80% of the U.S. market  . Through acquisitions of brands like E-ONE, KME, Ferrara, Spartan, Smeal, and Ladder Tower Company, as well as sprawling dealer networks, they have concentrated control in ways that leave municipalities with fewer choices and less leverage than ever.

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The Cost of Consolidation

The effects are clear:

• A ladder truck that cost around $900,000 in the mid-2010s now costs more than $2 million.

• Average delivery timelines have stretched from 18 months to more than 48 months.

• Chicago marked the 30th birthday of an engine still in frontline service.

• Los Angeles acknowledged that nearly 25% of its fleet is out of service, requiring a nearly $100 million emergency allocation.

•Watertown, NY has waited four years for a ladder truck it ordered in 2021.

•Asheville, South Carolina’s new tractor-drawn aerial (TDA, “tiller”) was ordered in 2021, showcased as new at FDIC 2025, delivered just afterwards—and immediately went into the shop for major body work due to workmanship issues from factory.

These aren’t just inconveniences. They are risks borne by firefighters and citizens every day.

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The Hidden Costs for Communities

Delays and inflated costs ripple far beyond the firehouse. Through the ISO Public Protection Classification (PPC) system, apparatus readiness directly affects a community’s insurance rating.

When a department cannot replace outdated rigs, its ISO score can fall. That means:

•Higher homeowners’ insurance premiums for every household and business.

•Reduced borrowing power for homebuyers, since banks calculate affordability using principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI). Higher insurance premiums reduce loan limits.

•Housing market pressure, as constrained borrowing power translates into downward pressure on property values.

In other words, a delayed fire truck isn’t just a firehouse problem — it can raise costs for every family in town and even drag on the local housing market.

At the same time, most municipalities are not equipped to commit $2 million in capital expenditure four or five years in advance. Budgeting rules, political turnover, and resource constraints make long-term commitments nearly impossible. Departments are left trapped in a system where they can neither plan effectively nor receive equipment when they need it.

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Regional Builders Squeezed Out

The consolidation hasn’t only hurt cities and taxpayers — it has also reshaped the competitive field for manufacturers themselves.

For decades, regional apparatus builders could compete by sourcing aerial components from independent suppliers like Ladder Tower. That independence ended when REV acquired Ladder Tower as part of its Spartan/Smeal consolidation.

Today, builders report that REV often ties ladder supply to chassis supply, insisting that a Ladder Tower aerial must ride on a Spartan chassis. The official explanation is “technical integration.” In reality, it is a mechanism to control both sides of the bill of materials.

This practice leaves regional builders with little room to operate. Instead of selling complete trucks with control over their specs and margins, they are reduced to fabricating the body — a sheet metal box — while REV captures the high-value aerial and chassis segments. Margins are squeezed, independence is eroded, and competition in the aerial category is effectively frozen.

For municipalities, this means fewer choices and longer waits. For regional builders, it is a slow suffocation of their role in the market.

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Innovation at a Standstill

Long lead times do more than delay deliveries. They also choke innovation.

In the consumer world, four years is at least four generations of smartphones, leaps in battery chemistry, and countless iterations of software. In family life, your kids can obtain an undergrad degree. In fire apparatus, it is the wait between ordering and receiving a single truck.

By the time a rig arrives, its technology may already be outdated. Electrification, telematics, and firefighter safety innovations all move slower than they should, not because engineers lack ideas or because firefighters don’t want them, but because the pipeline is clogged. Communities wait half a decade for equipment that represents last decade’s designs.

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A Familiar Story: Lessons from Europe

If all of this feels new, it shouldn’t. A decade ago, German regulators uncovered a cartel among Magirus (then under Iveco), Rosenbauer (via its aerial division Metz Aerials), Ziegler, and Schlingmann.

These companies colluded to fix prices and divide markets. The fines were severe:

•Magirus: €47.5 million

•Rosenbauer/Metz Aerials: €10.5 million

•Ziegler: €8 million

•Schlingmann: €2 million

•Rosenbauer’s Metz Aerials avoided further penalties as the whistleblower.

The fallout reshaped Europe. Ziegler was forced into the arms of CIMC, a giant Chinese state-owned conglomerate. Magirus, despite Iveco’s backing, spiraled into years of unprofitability before being sold in 2025 to Mutares, a private equity firm specializing in distressed assets.

The lesson: consolidation and collusion don’t just draw fines. They destabilize entire companies, distort markets, and leave communities with fewer choices.

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The La Crosse Lawsuit: An American Echo

Now, the U.S. has its own version on the table. The City of La Crosse’s lawsuit names Oshkosh, REV, Rosenbauer, and FAMA, alleging data-sharing, price coordination, and mid-production price hikes .

Whether the courts find merit or not, the very fact of the lawsuit reflects an industry that municipalities no longer trust to deliver fairly or reliably.

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Conclusion: The Door Is Open

The fire apparatus industry is no longer just a supply chain issue for manufacturers. It has become a community issue. When ISO scores fall, insurance premiums rise, and borrowing power shrinks, the impact reaches every household. When municipalities cannot plan budgets four years in advance, essential apparatus never gets ordered. And when regional builders are boxed out of aerials and chassis, competition — the lifeblood of innovation and affordability — dries up.

The German experience shows where unchecked consolidation leads: fines, instability, foreign ownership, and years of lost ground. The American market is showing the same symptoms now.

These structural issues are not sustainable. And when industries reach this point, one way or another, disruption always follows.