Now, Chelsea, I actually had something set up pretty good. It had to do with mushrooms, robots and sex AI. But this thing is too topical that I have to do this story, which is not happy. Like that one could potentially be. So it's just set up just so you could do a not happy one again. Maybe, maybe. Maybe I just throw happy words all in there and then have a no story actually ready. Anyway, this is going to be sad. Anyhow, yeah, it's not sad in the same way they usually are.
But I'm always finding new ways to make you sad. That is true. This one is a particular case of late stage capitalism that's destroying the world, which you're going to learn right from the title of this article, which comes from The Big Newsletter by Matt Stoller. And this article in particular is written by Basil Mushar Bosh, January 25th, 2025 title did a private equity fire truck roll up worse than the L.A. fires.
One of the reasons that the recent Los Angeles wildfires were so hard to contain according to Los Angeles fire department chief Christine Crowley is that wait, her last name is Crowley. That is a weird connection. You think it's his daughter? I know is I forget the daughter's name is definitely not that, although it could be. Yeah, they were trying to out there.
Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Anyhow, Chief Christine Crowley says that more than half of the L.A. fire department's fire trucks have been out of service. It's become a bit of a scandal. While fires burned throughout the Palisades and eaten neighborhoods, the fire department's 183 fire trucks were apparently sidelined. Why couldn't the L.A. fire department keep its equipment in working order?
A lot of people blame budget cuts, but there's another root issue, increasing prices and metastasizing production delays for these vehicles. The cost of fire trucks has skyrocketed in recent years, going from $300, $500,000 for a pumper truck and $750,000 to $900,000 for a ladder truck in the mid 2010s to around $1 million for a pumper truck and $2 million for a ladder truck in the last couple of years. So over doubling in price in a 10 year span.
Meanwhile, the time it takes to get a fire truck delivered has grown dramatically from less than a year before the pandemic to anywhere between two and four and a half years today. In brackets, it's not just trucks. All fire equipment is increasing quickly in price from air supply packs to maintenance contracts and of brackets.
Skyrocketing prices and longer delivery times have made it difficult for the L.A. fire department to replace aging vehicles in its fleet, many of which have exceeded their service life. As the L.A. fire department vehicles have gotten older, they've become prone to more frequent and serious breakdowns leading to more costly repairs and prolonged downtime.
And as the rising cost of fire truck maintenance and replacement has squeezed the department's budget, it has had fewer resources for recruiting and retaining firefighters. Against this backdrop, the L.A. fire department wound up having to face some of the worst L.A. fires they've seen in a century while both understaffed and under equipped. For decades before the 2010s, the fire apparatus industry was characterized by relatively stable inflation adjusted prices and ample production capacity.
Then AIP bought multiple fire trucks. I wish she would have said what AIP is one second. Nope. That. Oh. Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't know who AIP is. AIP bought multiple fire truck manufacturers and rolled them up into conglomerates called the REV group. Although AIP initially made a show of allowing these manufacturers and their distributors to continue operating independently.
Under the surface, it quickly moved to operate them as a single firm, like a food conglomerate selling a bunch of different brands that all appear to be different companies. As one industry executive has observed, quote, there are now times when all vendors at a big table, each with a different product are all owned and managed by the same parent company. How is that competitive for the purchaser? End quote. The answer, of course, is that it isn't. And you don't need to take my word for it.
REV fire group vice president of sales, Mike Vernegg, made it clear in 2020, quote, what I won't tolerate is negative selling. I won't tolerate it with our competitors and I won't tolerate it within the group. If I even get a hint or see anything like a dealer taking a shot at another dealer, we step in and we stop it. End quote from him. Before getting to how AIP operates, I want to note that higher cost of trucks are not just an LA problem.
The Seattle fire department is also struggling to replace and maintain an aging fire truck fleet. So is a Houston fire truck department and the Atlanta fire department. Across the country and communities, large and small headlines about fire departments struggling to cope with metastasizing fire truck prices and bottlenecks in fire apparatus supply chain have become commonplace, quote, waiting lists and higher prices add up to long delays for new fire trucks.
End quote says the Connecticut examiner, quote, why did that truck cost 1.9 million? Because it just does. End quote says a small town news website in Kansas, quote, despite fire at Grant, the Trivac Bune review of Pennsylvania reports, quote, Pennsylvania fire department says rising fire apparatus costs a challenge. End quote. Even when fire departments can put together these large sums of money for new trucks, they can't seem to get the dang things because of steep delays in production.
Since 2019, quote, the lead times for delivery from the date the order is placed for a new fire truck to final inspection has gone from 10 to 12 months to greater than two years in many cases and in some cases approaching three years, end quote. The Seattle fire department says it faces even longer wait times with ladder trucks orders taking 54 months, four and a half years to be filled. An emergency, Evanston, Illinois spent over 2.3 million to try to get a truck in a year and a half.
And it was a demo vehicle previously ordered by a dealer and passed down to the city as a favor without any of the customizations that fire departments typically require. Now, the article is quite long. So I think I'm going to cut it off there. Please go give it a read. It is really interesting. And I think it just shows how this system that we've built, it is screwing everything up in every way that you can possibly think. Because what's happened here is they just got rid of the competition.
One company bought it and they've decided to limit the supply and up the price, which is working for them. They're probably making a killing, but that destroys the actual people who need it and despite, because this is a necessity with everything going on in the world and the rise of forest fires, it's not exactly a great business practice for the world. It's great for people who are doing it. Yeah, the one company. Yes. But that's not the funniest thing. So excuse me for laughing.
I mean, I guess that's exactly where they want to be. It's the only, I mean, they've secured their business, but we're probably going to need more fire engines. Fire equipment. And yeah, like they said, I have heard many excuses for why the fires happened, especially from like Boston's people, where it's because of all them women in the fire department, which yeah, that's not the reason it happened. But I had never heard about this issue where they had over 100 vehicles that they couldn't use.
Yeah, which would suck, right? Especially if like you had five just sitting there at the fire department as you were leaving to go fight the fire. You're like, if only we could use those. I mean, I really hope they take them somewhere else to fix them, but points still stands. It does. And this is the first I've heard about this even like outside of L.A. Like I know every city has these.
So you think you would hear it and just like the municipal affairs, but I guess I don't pay close enough attention. Well, it's not in their newsletters. No. I don't know where they would tell you. It's a good point. I guess you just look at the fire budget, but even then it's not going to tell you as it's going towards people or the vehicles or what? Yeah, whatever happened to the town crier, they'd be crying about the fire. Oh, they're too expensive. Chelsea, you think you bring those back.
You think fire truck prices are high. You should look at bell prices these days. Criers are just completely priced out. Anyhow, you guys got 48 hours. You look into the bell ring and prices. See if you can afford to become your town crier. In the meantime, we'll see you Friday. Bye. Bye.