By Michael Pollick
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
BRADENTON, Fla. — In bright red with white stripes, the new fire engine being assembled for Heber Springs, Ark., is a shining thing of beauty. Across Oshkosh Corp.'s truck plant in Bradenton, an equally brilliant red-and-yellow ambulance, with a pair of dice emblazoned on its side, is being readied for paramedics in Las Vegas, part of a fleet being built to order.
Crimped by lower tax collections since the onset of the Great Recession, municipalities like Heber Springs — population 7,200 — have been holding off on major purchases like fire trucks and rescue vehicles, which typically cost $200,000 to $500,000 apiece.
But now, as the nation’s economy has incrementally improved, and cities and counties have concluded they can no longer put off public safety-spending, factories like Oshkosh’s Pierce Manufacturing division have benefitted.
Full Story: Plant cranking out fire trucks and ambulances