Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc.

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Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc.

27855 James Chapel Road North
Holden, Louisiana 70744
U.S.A.
Telephone: (225) 567-7100
Fax: (225) 567-5260
Web site: http://www.ferrarafire.com

Private Company
Incorporated: 1982 as Ferrara Firefighting Equipment
Employees: 310
Sales: $159.2 million (2005)
NAIC: 336211 Motor Vehicle Body Manufacturing

Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc., is a Holden, Louisiana-based private company that custom builds firefighting equipment, including pumpers, tankers, brush trucks for off-road needs, rescue vehicles, and industrial firefighting trucks. Ferrara also manufactures the Strong Arm vehicle, a fire truck equipped with an aerial boom and a nozzle capable of piercing 6-inch reinforced concrete walls to improve ventilation or even create entryways. Specialty vehicles made by Ferrara include hazmat units, mobile command vehicles, emergency response trailers, bomb squad units, and decontamination vehicles.

The company is known as an innovator, not only in terms of new chassis design and safety features such as the Complete Airbag Protection System to protect even outboard-seated passengers of a fire truck, but also in customer service. Ferrara was the first apparatus company in the United States to offer fire departments a 24-hour emergency hotline for warranty and service. Ferrara equipment is used in five of the ten largest U.S. cities (New York, Houston, San Diego, San Antonio, and Detroit) and 35 North American cities in all. In addition, Ferrara has equipment in service around the world, including Canada, South America, the Middle East, the Philippines, and China. It is one of the top five fire truck manufacturers in the United States. Ferrara equipment is sold through a dealer network in the United States and Canada and reaches out to other parts of the globe.

FOUNDER BUILDS FIRST FIRE TRUCK: 1977

Ferrara's founder, Chris Ferrara, became involved with firefighting equipment in 1977 when, as a 20-year-old, he joined the Central Volunteer Fire Department in Central, Louisiana, near Baton Rouge. A pipefitter by trade he worked for the area's Exxon petrochemical refineries and soon put his skills to work for his local fire department. At the time, volunteer fire departments received no public funds, relying on donations and fund raisers. Because the Central Volunteer Fire Department served a rural area, it often had to contend with a lack of a ready water supply to combat fires. A water tanker was greatly needed, but the department simply lacked the funds to purchase one. Hence, Ferrara led an effort to build a tanker in the volunteer's spare time. The much-needed vehicle was delivered, resulting in a major saving of money for the department.

While working on the tanker project, Ferrara became interested in the fire truck and fire equipment field, which had little representation in the Louisiana area. Wanting to go into business for himself, Ferrara in 1978 began to act as a smalltime firefighting equipment and supply distributor while continuing to work as a pipefitter. Investing $1,800 in savings, and using his bedroom as an office and his garage for storage, Ferrara began selling boots, jackets, fire hose nozzles, and the like out of the trunk of his car. Initially supplying his own volunteer fire department he slowly grew his business.

In 1982 Ferrara was able to quit his job at Exxon and devote himself full-time to his business, which he incorporated as Ferrara Firefighting Equipment. He also acquired a Eunice, Louisiana-based fire equipment supplier that had gone out of business. He not only added a sales staff but also inherited a facility and mechanics. Ferrara's company did warranty work for some of the largest apparatus manufacturers, and performed preventive maintenance and general repairs. The following year Ferrara essentially erected a barn in his backyard to house his wares and provide office space. As the business continued to grow he moved his operation to a 15,000-square-foot structure in Baton Rouge in 1985. It was large enough that three years later the company could perform major refurbishments of equipment and assemble prebuilt fire bodies and fire pumps on new truck chassis. To save money for the smaller volunteer fire departments, some of the trucks relied on used chassis.

In 1988 Ferrara formed Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc., in order to begin custom building such equipment as pumpers, mini-pumpers, tankers, and service/utility vehicles. Soon the company was turning out about 8 vehicles a month. By this point Ferrara owned the largest firefighting equipment company in his region, and he was setting his sights on national expansion. In about a year business doubled, requiring Ferrara to rent space across the street to handle the extra work.

The company continued to grow, so that by 1992, when it delivered 103 units, Ferrara cracked the top ten of the largest U.S. fire apparatus manufacturers. This was a major improvement over the 20 to 25 trucks per year the company turned out in the 1980s. To gain even more business Ferrara introduced an innovative custom extruded aluminum fire body that was made completely out of extrusions and aluminum plate. Subsequently, Ferrara added a full line of aerial ladders and platforms, making the company a major player in its industry.

NEW PLANT OPENS: 1994

Given Ferrara's range of capabilities, and Ferrara's ambitions, the company was in need of something more than makeshift accommodations. Ferrara found some available land where a cement plant once operated along Interstate 12 in Holden, situated between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. On these 50 acres he hoped to gain some exposure for the company. The growing community and its ability to provide skilled labor was also a key consideration in the selection of Holden. He then spent $3.7 million to have a 110,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant constructed, which opened in September 1994. It occupied only about ten acres of the available land, providing Ferrara with plenty of room for future expansion. The new facility also included office space and a 2,800-square-foot showroom, where firefighting equipment and clothing for both firefighters and law enforcement were displayed.

The new facility had an immediate impact on the growth of the company. Revenues in 1995 improved 35 percent to $40 million. Although not nearly as large as Oscala, Florida's Emergency One, which manufactured about 1,000 vehicles each year, Ferrara had established a reputation in the field for offering the most options and working closely with customers, who usually paid a visit or two to the plant to discuss their needs and determine which materials were suitable for the bodies: stainless steel, extruded aluminum, or other materials. Finished trucks were then tested by Underwriters' Laboratories, in keeping with Ferrara's belief in the need for third-party testing.

COMPANY PERSPECTIVES

All Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc., products are designed to be easy to use, easy to service, and tough enough to be dependable for many years. Every model is backed with the best warranties in the business.

Because the company was devoted to producing the highest quality vehicles, it was sometimes put at a disadvantage in making competitive bids on new contracts. Nevertheless, Ferrara was able to strike a balance and achieve a growing share of available business while remaining true to its philosophy of custom-building vehicles. "Building a fire truck is like building a house for somebody," Ferrara explained to the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report. "There are different colors, shapes, sizes. People have different needs and requirements," he noted. As Ferrara grew larger, it was also difficult for Ferrara to remain personally connected to each project. "We haven't built this place as a big conglomerate with stacks of management levels to take care of problems," he told the Business Report, adding "I like to be a hands-on type of guy and do whatever it takes." The father of three young children, Ferrara often worked 12-hour days, six days a week to keep up with the demands on his time.

Ferrara vehicles were built over chassis and motors provided by the likes of Ford, Chevrolet, Spartan Motors Inc., and Cummins diesel. Ferrara's long-held goal, however, was to be able to build a fire truck from the ground up. First, the company had private-label chassis produced for it in Michigan, but then added equipment in the Holden plant to produce the chassis in-house. The next major step came in 1999 when Ferrara introduced its first custom fire chassis. Called the Inferno, it offered advances on a number of fronts. It offered more room and comfort to the occupants, thanks in part to climate control, yet was easier to handle due to improved steering. It also offered better driver visibility to make the trucks safer. A mid-range chassis called the Igniter soon followed, offering many of the same features as the Inferno.

Next, Ferrara introduced a 4×4 all-wheel-drive chassis for rescue vehicles, and the Ultra chassis designed for extreme conditions. The company also added Independent Front Suspension and the Complete Airbag Protection System (CAPS), which provided airbag protection for outboard-seated passengers in the six-person cabs. The company also demonstrated its innovative spirit and dedication to safety when in order to keep ladders dry and protected from the elements, Ferrara redesigned the trucks to provide a storage section that passed through the center of the water tank. In this way more ladders were accessible during emergencies and extra space was freed up on the trucks to carry other response equipment.

Ferrara also took pains to test the strength of their cabs thoroughly to make sure they provided the safest conditions for firefighters. For a baseline it started with a European design test, one of the most stringent in the world, to determine whether the interior of the cab would collapse in a rollover or some other situation in which the cab could be crushed. Then Ferrara tripled the load on the test. The company also measured frontal impact and tested the strength of the roof of the cab. It even tested the body of the fire trucks, because in a roll-over the body either provides support or puts more strain on the cab. As a result of such testing, Ferrara was able to produce what it considered to be the safest fire trucks in the industry.

PLANT EXPANSION: 2000

The new Inferno and Igniter custom chassis created even more interest in the Louisiana company. To keep up with demand Ferrara in 2000 added a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing unit in the Holden facility as well as a 35,000-square-foot used apparatus center.

On September 11, 2001, firefighters everywhere mourned the loss of 340 members of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) who died when the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed during the terrorist attacks that morning. Aside from the tragic loss of personnel, the FDNY lost a number of fire trucks that were crushed under the weight of the debris that fell. To show its support for New York City and its firefighters, Ferrara, with backing from the citizens of Louisiana who raised $500,000, manufactured a new fire truck to FDNY specifications called the "Spirit of Louisiana" that was donated to the city. Ferrara would later send two more trucks to the FDNY. Ferrara indicated that he and his fellow workers and citizens were simply doing something that they expected others would do for them should a catastrophe strike their community. In December 2005, in the wake of the devastation visited upon New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina, 600 FDNY firefighters traveled to Louisiana to offer their help. FDNY contributed five vehicles to the effort, including the "Spirit of Louisiana." Ferrara also volunteered its facility to serve as a logistical resource center to collect and distribute supplies used by the firefighters helping in New Orleans.

KEY DATES

1978:: Chris Ferrara begins selling fire equipment out of the trunk of his car.
1982:: Ferrara Firefighting Equipment formed.
1988:: Ferrara Fire Apparatus formed.
1994:: Company moves to new plant in Holden, Louisiana.
1999:: The Inferno chassis is introduced.
2004:: The Strong Arm firefighting vehicle is introduced.

In the new century Ferrara continued to serve as an industry innovator while maintaining a commitment to firefighter safety. In 2004 it unveiled the "Strong Arm" firefighting vehicle, developed to deal with fires in urban settings where steel and concrete structures hindered firefighters and sometimes created situations that threatened the lives of firefighters. The aerial boom and piercing nozzle of the Strong Arm could punch through walls, helping to provide ventilation and in some cases an escape hatch for trapped firefighters. In 2006 Ferrara introduced the Inundator Industrial Foam Pumper to fight petrochemical fires. Using an Igniter chassis, the Inundator was capable of pumping poly foam at a rate of 3,500 gallons per minute. Also in 2006 Ferrara brought out a line of Emergency Response Trailers, some of which were designed to simply carry additional equipment, while others included living quarters and high-tech communications equipment to act as mobile command centers.

With business continuing to grow at a steady clip, with the company delivering more than 300 vehicles a year, Ferrara in 2005 added another 10,000 square feet of space to its Holden facility to handle increased chassis production and include a large service bay area where more service, repair and refurbishment work could be done. A year later Ferrara added 40,000 square feet of manufacturing space as well as another 46,000 square feet for service and refurbishment work. Ferrara's facility encompassed 300,000 square feet, the result of ten expansion projects in just five years. Given the continuing growth of the company, there was every reason to expect that more space would be needed in the years to come.

Ed Dinger