Pierce Manufacturing

Pierce Manufacturing is a U.S. company based in Appleton, Wisconsin that manufactures customized fire and rescue apparatus and a wholly owned subsidiary of Oshkosh Corporation. Pierce was acquired by Oshkosh in 1996 and is currently the largest fire apparatus company in the US. The company was founded in 1913 by Humphrey Pierce and his son Dudley as the Pierce Auto Body Works Inc., and concentrated on building custom truck bodies for the Ford Model T. The first production facility was designed in 1917 and enlarged in 1918 by architect Wallace W. DeLong. From the 1960s to the early 1980s, Pierce was primarily known for building custom bodies on commercial and other manufacturer's custom chassis, and was considered an original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

Although the ''Arrow'' name was used for its first custom chassis which debuted in 1979, the company has no affiliation with George N. Pierce's famous Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company of Buffalo, New York, which operated from 1901 to 1938. However, the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company coincidentally supplied 8- and 12-cylinder engines to Seagrave for use in their fire apparatus. These engines continued to be made even after Pierce-Arrow ceased operation in 1938. Seagrave continued to deliver fire apparatus with the "Pierce-Arrow" V-12 until 1970.

Throughout the years, Pierce has had partnerships with various other manufacturers, notably when it came to aerial devices (it now engineers and builds all its own aerial devices in-house). Such aerial manufacturers included Snorkel, Pitman, Aerial Innovations (AI), Ladder Towers Incorporated (LTI), Smeal, Bronto Skylift and Nova Quintech (whose assets Pierce/Oshkosh acquired in 1997). In addition to its main facilities in Wisconsin, it also has facilities in Bradenton, Florida. The Florida facility is a manufacturing site for the custom Saber chassis and Responder line of apparatus. Currently (December 4, 2017) Pierce is the largest manufacturer of firefighting apparatus in the United States. End-users are represented across a larger majority of the planet, including China. The single largest municipal fleet of Pierce Manufacturing apparatus is located within the 407 square miles of Fairfax County, Virginia. (Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department)

In September 2021 Pierce acquires an ownership interest in fire engines manufacturer ''Boise Mobile Equipment (BME)'' of Boise, Idaho.

Products

Custom chassis

Discontinued

* Arrow (1980–2002)
* Contender (1999–2010)
* Dash (1984–1999)
* Dash D-8000 (1988–1992)
* Dash 2000 (1999–2007)
* Dash CF (2011–2020)
* Enforcer (2000–2007)(Reintroduced in 2014)
* Javelin (1990–1993)
* Lance (1985–1993)
* Lance II (1993–1999)
* Lance 2000 (1999–2007)

Commercial chassis

* Ford
* Freightliner
* Kenworth
* International
* Peterbilt

Apparatus

* Rearmount and midmount steel aerial ladders
* Rearmount aluminum aerial ladders
* Rearmount and midmount steel aerial platforms
* Rearmount aluminum aerial platforms
* Tractor drawn steel aerial ladders
* Telescoping and/or articulating water tower booms
* Standard and rescue midmount pumpers
* Standard and rescue rearmount pumpers
* Pumper-tankers/ tankers/tenders and elliptical tankers/tenders
* Mini pumpers
* Wildland/brush pumpers (Types 1 through 6)
* Walk-in and non-walk-in heavy rescues
* Walk-in and non-walk-in medium rescues
* Walk-in and non-walk-in light rescues
* Homeland security vehicles
* Command, communication, and rehab vehicles
* Foam proportioning systems
* Fire Patrol Trucks

Gallery

File:Rincon fire truck2.png, Engine 181 of the Rincon Fire Department
File:Engine 55.JPG, Engine 55 of the Greenfields Fire Co, PA. 1999 Pierce Quantum Pumper
File:Hillcrest NY 2002 Pierce Dash Midmount Platform.jpg, 6-Tower of the Hillcrest Fire Co. #1, NY. 2002 Pierce Dash 2000 95' Midmount Aerial Platform Quint
File:Fire Engine Clay Twp.jpg, Reserve Engine 249 of the Clay Fire Territory, IN. 1985 Pierce Dash Pumper
File:X-Ladder 1 105' Pierce Arrow.JPG, Reserve Ladder 18 serving the Lexington Fire Department, KY. Pierce Arrow 105' X-Ladder 1
File:Jackson FD Aerial 1 (1988-89) 105' Pierce Arrow.jpg, Aerial 1 serving the Jackson Fire Department, KY. 1988 Pierce Arrow 105' canopy cab
File:Crab Orchard FD Engine 14 (2006) Pierce Contender.JPG, Engine 14 serving the Crab Orchard Fire Department, KY. 2006 Pierce Contender custom cab
File:Stanton FD Engine 30 (2002) Pierce Contender-Freightliner.JPG, Engine 30 serving the Stanton Fire Department, KY. 2002 Pierce Contender-Freightliner crew cab
File:Jackson FD Engine 2 (2003) Pierce Contender-Kenworth C.JPG, Engine 2 serving the Jackson Fire Department, KY. 2003 Pierce Contender-Kenworth single cab
File:Morehead FD Engine 10 (2005) Pierce Enforcer.JPG, Engine 10 serving the Morehead Fire Department, KY. 2005 Pierce Enforcer with Roto Ray
File:Morehead FD Engine 8 (1993) Pierce Responder-International.JPG, Engine 8 serving the Morehead Fire Department, KY. 1993 Pierce Responder-International crew cab
File:West Liberty Engine 3 Pierce Responder.JPG, Engine 3 serving the West Liberty Fire Department, KY. 1993 Pierce Responder-International single cab
File:Morehead FD Engine 7 (1979) Pierce-Hendrickson.JPG, Engine 7 serving the Morehead Fire Department, KY. 1979 Pierce-Hendrickson custom cab

References

* Shapiro, L. ''Aerial Fire Trucks'', Motorbooks International, June 2002.

Company History

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce Manufacturing
Manufacturing companies based in Wisconsin
Fire service vehicle manufacturers
Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Wisconsin
Oshkosh Corporation
Truck manufacturers of the United States
Appleton, Wisconsin