Found at Fire Service, Inc on Facebook:
Congratulations to Milwaukee Fire Department on their new order of ??? E-ONE CR 100 aerial ladders!Typhoon chassis800 lb capacityCummins X15 605 horsepower w/ idle mitigationHeavy duty CR100 ladder
click to download
#1 by John Antkowski on June 26, 2025 - 10:27 PM
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Absolutely, Mick Mc I totally agree with you. But I would rather see a new Firehouse. And build it on the river. Engine 3’s house is now part of the shop. The boat team and the dive team could have a better access to water emergencies. Engine 1 has room for a Truck company. Engine 2 is pretty tight now. I also think a truck should be recommissioned there or Engine 11. Engine 11 is in a tight part of Bayview. The company could easily service the high rises of the 3rd ward and Bayview. The system worked great until the cuts came. I joined in 2005 and within a few years a good portion of the Fire Department was cut. The Department is hiring again and are pounding out classes. There’s talk of adding a 4th platoon. It will be interesting to see how things pan out.
#2 by Mike Mc on June 26, 2025 - 8:47 PM
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You make some very good points John. I would suggest bringing back Truck 8 and station them at Engine 1. New high rises keep popping up downtown. New condo complexes in the old 3rd ward. How much longer can you get by with only one truck in the downtown area?
#3 by John Antkowski on June 24, 2025 - 6:16 PM
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Anybody have any ideas or speculation’s where the new equipment is going? It’s great to see the Department back replacing and updating the fleet. The “Safer” program has been a Godsend for Fire Departments around the country. I have a question? Does the grant cover the replacement of new Firehouses? Besides the City slowly returning shuttered Firehouses and Engine companies. It’s time to return a Truck company or 2 back in service. The Northwest Corridor of the city light on truck service. I feel the company that needs to be returned is Truck Company 15. In the busy area of Engines 8,9 and 37. But, where to put them back in service. Your guess is as good as mine.
#4 by crabbymilton on June 24, 2025 - 7:47 AM
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Excellent perspective Bill. I think it’s a matter of time until a few brands in the REV empire give way or are just consolidated. Frankly, I thought that would have happened long ago since REV has been around since 2010. How about KME-ONE?
All kidding aside, it’s good to try at least to be loyal to a local or regional companies that have been around forever. However, that’s academic if quality is bad or too expensive like SEAGRAVE. I would have loved to see Milwaukee go with SEAGRAVE. West Allis seems to like theirs at last report. I like EONE too so hopefully things will work for them. Bottom line, don’t get too hung up on builder loyalty otherwise you run the risk of getting jerked around plus limiting your options.
#5 by Daniel C. Rode on June 23, 2025 - 9:53 PM
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The order is for 2 trucks. We also have on order 3 more E-One pumpers due this fall.
#6 by Bill Post on June 23, 2025 - 8:55 PM
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It really doesn’t look good for Pierce if the Milwaukee Fire Departments Mechanics are unhappy. Pierce as you know is really a local company for Milwaukee. Being located in the same state and about 100 miles from Milwaukee is local.That is probably why the brass at the MFD was pushing for Pierce as it would help the State of Wisconsin’s economy.
It is ironic that what the State of Wisconsin is or at least was to the Fire Apparatus Industry is like what the State of Michigan was to the Automobile Industry.
Seagraves main plant is also in Wisconsin and the Peter Pirsch company was headquartered in Kenosha. there are some smaller companies located there such as Custom Fire Apparatus.
I wonder if Milwaukee even asked for bids on the New Trucks or whether they just decided to get the E/ONEs. The one company that at least still has a reputation for High Quality apparatus is Seagrave and that one company Milwaukee hasn’t ordered from in decades. So Milwaukee apparently has been priced out of their market for what seems to be generations. When Pirsch was still in business Milwaukee was one of the Pirsch companies best customers especially when it came to Aerial Ladders and many of their Aerial Ladders were on Mack Chassis.
Madison has still been ordering their new apparatus from Pierce and they have been adding new stations as the city has gradually expanded. From 2005 to 2018 four new stations were built all with new companies.
Currently they are building a new station 6 which is replacing an older station 6 due to a major redevelopment project in the area while the old station is being repurposed into a “child care facility”.
While this is old news Milwaukee is running 50 % less Truck companies than they were running the early 2000’s when they ran 16 Truck companies and now they only are running with 8 while they are running with 6 less Engine companies than they had been running with and several stations were closed or repurposed as well. Perhaps E/One offered Milwaukee a better price than Pierce.
It may be good idea if REV was broken up as they are looking more and more like an attempted monopoly on the fire apparatus industry and even now the US Senate is looking into their business practices which may be contributing the their supply chain issues. The Senate is also looking into the the Rosenbauer corporation as well as Oskosh which which owns Pierce.
https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-kim-demand-answers-from-major-companies-after-backlog-soaring-prices-hamper-fire-department-readiness/
#7 by Mike C on June 23, 2025 - 7:13 AM
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The mechanics have been unhappy with Pierce for several years. Personally, I can’t tell you why Milwaukee went to E-One but just pure speculation it has something to do with delivery times combined with poor quality rigs from Pierce. I know the administration advocated for Pierce for quite a long time so maybe the mechanics were able to persuade the admin to going with a higher end builder.
#8 by crabbymilton on June 23, 2025 - 6:12 AM
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Good point Tim. However, REV’s HQ is in Brookfield, WI.
#9 by crabbymilton on June 23, 2025 - 6:07 AM
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They must like their EONE’s. They have 3 EONE pumpers in service at 13, 26, and 30.
Never thought they would move away from PIERCE after so many many years.
#10 by Tim on June 22, 2025 - 6:41 PM
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very embarrassing for Pierce….home state company
#11 by Big Moe on June 21, 2025 - 11:32 PM
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Leaving the dark side and opting for quality and faster delivery. Well done.
#12 by harry on June 21, 2025 - 12:16 PM
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i wonder if they are going back to eone