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Now, Chelsea, I actually had something set up pretty good.

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It had to do with mushrooms, robots and sex AI.

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But this thing is too topical that I have to do this story, which is not happy.

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Like that one could potentially be.

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So it's just set up just so you could do a not happy one again.

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Maybe, maybe.

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Maybe I just throw happy words all in there and then have a no story actually ready.

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Anyway, this is going to be sad.

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Anyhow, yeah, it's not sad in the same way they usually are.

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But I'm always finding new ways to make you sad.

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That is true.

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This one is a particular case of late stage capitalism that's destroying the world,

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which you're going to learn right from the title of this article,

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which comes from The Big Newsletter by Matt Stoller.

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And this article in particular is written by Basil Mushar Bosh, January 25th,

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2025 title did a private equity fire truck roll up worse than the L.A. fires.

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One of the reasons that the recent Los Angeles wildfires were so hard to contain

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according to Los Angeles fire department chief Christine Crowley is that wait,

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her last name is Crowley.

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That is a weird connection.

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You think it's his daughter?

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I know is I forget the daughter's name is definitely not that, although it could be.

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Yeah, they were trying to out there.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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Sorry. Anyhow, Chief Christine Crowley says that more than half of the L.A.

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fire department's fire trucks have been out of service.

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It's become a bit of a scandal.

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While fires burned throughout the Palisades and eaten neighborhoods,

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the fire department's 183 fire trucks were apparently sidelined.

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Why couldn't the L.A. fire department keep its equipment in working order?

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A lot of people blame budget cuts, but there's another root issue,

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increasing prices and metastasizing production delays for these vehicles.

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The cost of fire trucks has skyrocketed in recent years,

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going from $300, $500,000 for a pumper truck and $750,000 to $900,000 for a

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ladder truck in the mid 2010s to around $1 million for a pumper truck and $2

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million for a ladder truck in the last couple of years.

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So over doubling in price in a 10 year span.

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Meanwhile, the time it takes to get a fire truck delivered has grown dramatically

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from less than a year before the pandemic to anywhere between two and four and a

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half years today. In brackets, it's not just trucks.

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All fire equipment is increasing quickly in price from air supply packs to

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maintenance contracts and of brackets.

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Skyrocketing prices and longer delivery times have made it difficult for the L.A.

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fire department to replace aging vehicles in its fleet, many of which have

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exceeded their service life.

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As the L.A. fire department vehicles have gotten older, they've become prone to

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more frequent and serious breakdowns leading to more costly repairs and

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prolonged downtime.

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And as the rising cost of fire truck maintenance and replacement has squeezed

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the department's budget, it has had fewer resources for recruiting and

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retaining firefighters.

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Against this backdrop, the L.A. fire department wound up having to face some

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of the worst L.A. fires they've seen in a century while both understaffed

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and under equipped.

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For decades before the 2010s, the fire apparatus industry was characterized

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by relatively stable inflation adjusted prices and ample production capacity.

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Then AIP bought multiple fire trucks.

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I wish she would have said what AIP is one second.

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Nope. That. Oh.

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Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't know who AIP is.

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AIP bought multiple fire truck manufacturers and rolled them up into

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conglomerates called the REV group.

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Although AIP initially made a show of allowing these manufacturers and their

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distributors to continue operating independently.

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Under the surface, it quickly moved to operate them as a single firm, like a

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food conglomerate selling a bunch of different brands that all appear to be

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different companies.

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As one industry executive has observed, quote, there are now times when all

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vendors at a big table, each with a different product are all owned and

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managed by the same parent company.

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How is that competitive for the purchaser?

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End quote.

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The answer, of course, is that it isn't.

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And you don't need to take my word for it.

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REV fire group vice president of sales, Mike Vernegg, made it clear in 2020,

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quote, what I won't tolerate is negative selling.

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I won't tolerate it with our competitors and I won't tolerate it within the

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group. If I even get a hint or see anything like a dealer taking a

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shot at another dealer, we step in and we stop it.

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End quote from him.

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Before getting to how AIP operates, I want to note that higher cost of

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trucks are not just an LA problem.

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The Seattle fire department is also struggling to replace and maintain an

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aging fire truck fleet.

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So is a Houston fire truck department and the Atlanta fire department.

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Across the country and communities, large and small headlines about fire

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departments struggling to cope with metastasizing fire truck prices and

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bottlenecks in fire apparatus supply chain have become commonplace, quote,

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waiting lists and higher prices add up to long delays for new fire trucks.

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End quote says the Connecticut examiner, quote, why did that truck cost

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1.9 million?

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Because it just does.

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End quote says a small town news website in Kansas, quote, despite fire

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at Grant, the Trivac Bune review of Pennsylvania reports, quote, Pennsylvania

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fire department says rising fire apparatus costs a challenge.

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End quote.

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Even when fire departments can put together these large sums of money for

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new trucks, they can't seem to get the dang things because of steep delays in

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production.

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Since 2019, quote, the lead times for delivery from the date the order is

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placed for a new fire truck to final inspection has gone from 10 to 12

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months to greater than two years in many cases and in some cases approaching

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three years, end quote.

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The Seattle fire department says it faces even longer wait times with

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ladder trucks orders taking 54 months, four and a half years to be filled.

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An emergency, Evanston, Illinois spent over 2.3 million to try to get a

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truck in a year and a half.

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And it was a demo vehicle previously ordered by a dealer and passed down to

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the city as a favor without any of the customizations that fire departments

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typically require.

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Now, the article is quite long.

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So I think I'm going to cut it off there.

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Please go give it a read.

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It is really interesting.

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And I think it just shows how this system that we've built, it is screwing

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everything up in every way that you can possibly think.

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Because what's happened here is they just got rid of the competition.

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One company bought it and they've decided to limit the supply and up the price,

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which is working for them.

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They're probably making a killing, but that destroys the actual people who

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need it and despite, because this is a necessity with everything going on in

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the world and the rise of forest fires, it's not exactly a great business

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practice for the world.

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It's great for people who are doing it.

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Yeah, the one company.

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Yes.

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But that's not the funniest thing.

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So excuse me for laughing.

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I mean, I guess that's exactly where they want to be.

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It's the only, I mean, they've secured their business, but we're probably

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going to need more fire engines.

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Fire equipment.

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And yeah, like they said, I have heard many excuses for why the fires

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happened, especially from like Boston's people, where it's because of all

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them women in the fire department, which yeah, that's not the reason it happened.

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But I had never heard about this issue where they had over 100 vehicles

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that they couldn't use.

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Yeah, which would suck, right?

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Especially if like you had five just sitting there at the fire department

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as you were leaving to go fight the fire.

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You're like, if only we could use those.

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I mean, I really hope they take them somewhere else to fix them, but

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points still stands.

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It does.

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And this is the first I've heard about this even like outside of L.A.

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Like I know every city has these.

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So you think you would hear it and just like the municipal affairs, but I guess

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I don't pay close enough attention.

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Well, it's not in their newsletters.

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No.

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I don't know where they would tell you.

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It's a good point.

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I guess you just look at the fire budget, but even then it's not going to tell

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you as it's going towards people or the vehicles or what?

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Yeah, whatever happened to the town crier, they'd be crying about the fire.

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Oh, they're too expensive.

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Chelsea, you think you bring those back.

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You think fire truck prices are high.

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You should look at bell prices these days.

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Criers are just completely priced out.

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Anyhow, you guys got 48 hours.

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You look into the bell ring and prices.

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See if you can afford to become your town crier.

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In the meantime, we'll see you Friday.

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Bye. Bye.