By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is investigating if fire truck manufacturers may have engaged in anticompetitive practices, amid reports of a firefighting equipment crisis from departments across the nation.
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Several Arizona fire departments have reportedly raised alarms about skyrocketing costs and years-long wait times to get new ladder trucks, pumper engines and other equipment.
The attorney general’s office, which announced the investigation Wednesday, said the high prices and delays have left firefighters with equipment well past its service life, raising concerns about whether departments can effectively respond to emergencies.
It said that the timing of the price increases appears to track closely with the industry merging into a few companies. Three companies control the majority of the market: REV Group, Oshkosh, which owns Pierce Manufacturing, and Rosenbauer America.
And despite the high demand for new emergency vehicles, the attorney general’s office says there have been unexplained manufacturing shutdowns and slowdowns.
“Arizona’s firefighters run toward danger to protect the rest of us, and they shouldn’t have to do it with equipment that’s falling apart because corporate greed has priced them out of the repairs and replacements they need,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement Wednesday. “My office will hold accountable any company that puts profits ahead of the safety of our first responders and the communities they serve.”
Texas launched a similar investigation in February, saying that it already found multiple potentially unlawful price hikes.
Several cities and towns across the country, including a handful in Arizona, have also filed a class action lawsuit against the companies, accusing them of price fixing and conspiring to suppress supply, according to affiliate station WBAY.
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The International Association of Fire Fighters, which first raised the issue last year, has urged the federal government to investigate and take action, warning that the crisis is endangering firefighters and communities.
Representatives for the companies have previously denied engaging in any anti-competitive behavior, Arizona’s Family previously reported.
Fire officials told Arizona’s Family in April that the equipment prices have more than doubled. For example, the average price of a pumper truck was less than $500,000 in 2015. Now, it’s more than $1 million. The cost for a ladder truck has also doubled, to more than $2 million.
In Phoenix, the wait time for a new engine truck is three years, while a ladder truck takes four years, according to the city’s fire department.
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