That fire truck rumbling down the street on its way to extinguish an inferno, siren blaring, just might have been manufactured right here in Southwest Florida. Pierce Manufacturing, Inc., which has facilities in both Bradenton and Appleton, Wisconsin, builds one out of every three fire trucks on the road.

1999 

The company begins making fire trucks at its Bradenton warehouse.

300,000 square feet 

Size of Pierce’s Bradenton manufacturing facility

$1.1 billion 

The 2018 fiscal year fire and emergency sales estimate for Oshkosh Corporation, Pierce’s parent company, up 7 percent from FY 2017.

1913

Pierce (originally known as Auto Body Works) is founded in Appleton, Wisconsin, by Humphrey Pierce and his son, Dudley

2,000 

Number of Pierce employees in Appleton

450 

Number of Pierce employees in Bradenton

8 

Firefighters at a time can ride in one of Pierce’s new trucks.

12 months

Amount of time it takes to build a truck

27,000+ 

Pierce fire trucks are on the road today.

Pierce’s truck ladders can carry three firefighters, plus 100 pounds of equipment, and can withstand winds of up to 35 miles per hour.

Six out of 10 firefighter deaths occur because of traffic accidents, not fires, so Pierce was the first manufacturer to install front air bags in fire trucks, and now also includes extra protection in case the truck rolls on its side.

Last summer a Pierce firetruck was showcased on the White House front lawn as part of the Made In America event.

Pierce supplies fire trucks to Manatee County, Bradenton, Tampa, Hillsborough County, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Lakeland and many other Florida counties and municipalities.