Who Makes Money From America’s Firetrucks

Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Corporation is a one stop shop that makes fire trucks, tactical vehicles, news vans, mail trucks and construction lifts, among other things. It serves about 20 different end markets and pulled in about $8.3 billion in sales in 2022. Its Pierce brand is also the largest maker of firetrucks in North America. A single truck can cost up to $2.5 million and all of them are custom made for the roughly 27,000 fire departments that battle thousands of fires each year. From 2012 to 2021, home fires alone took nearly 3,000 lives, caused more than 11,000 injuries and nearly $9 trillion in damage. Now, Pierce and the rest of the Oshkosh portfolio is electrifying - which is no mean feat, given the sheer size and weight of the vehicles Oshkosh makes. It also won a $3 billion contract to build the next generation USPS delivery truck. But this success is offsetting failure elsewhere - it recently lost a $9 billion defense contract that made up more than half of its annual defense revenues. And some say the defense business, which in total is about a quarter of Oshkosh’s sales, has to go. Chapters: 00:00 — Introduction 01:40 — Building a firetruck 03:31 — The mothership 06:15 — Challenges 07:52 — An electrified future Produced by: Robert Ferris Edited by: Maria Chiu Camera by: Colin Systma Animation: Jason Reginato, Josh Kalven Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi