By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
• The CPSE Center for Innovation released a Strategic Scan report detailing apparatus purchasing challenges facing fire departments nationwide.
• The report highlights rising costs, extended lead times, aging fleets and maintenance concerns reported by fire service leaders.
• It identifies six strategic actions departments can take to address capital purchasing issues.
• Among suggested strategies are proactive capital planning, stock apparatus evaluation and alternative funding mechanisms.
• The report reflects data gathered from fire chiefs and agency leaders in late 2025.
RESTON, VA — A new report published by the Center for Public Safety Excellence’s Center for Innovation on Jan. 26 outlines significant challenges fire departments face in purchasing fire apparatus and offers strategic approaches to address those issues.
The Strategic Scan on Fire Department Leadership Perspectives on Apparatus Capital Purchasing details cost and lead-time pressures, concerns with aging fleets and maintenance, and operational challenges reported by fire service leaders. The findings are based on data collected in October and November 2025.
Apparatus remain one of the most expensive and complex capital investments for fire departments, the report states, and external market factors have intensified purchasing difficulties in recent years.
To help departments adapt, the report proposes six actionable takeaways, including prioritizing proactive capital planning, considering stock apparatus as an alternative to fully custom builds, extending service life through refurbishment, engaging front-line personnel early in decision-making, strengthening communication with elected officials, and exploring cooperative purchasing and alternative funding mechanisms.
The report reflects ongoing efforts by fire service leadership to improve apparatus procurement practices in the face of financial and logistical constraints, and is part of the CPSE Center for Innovation’s Actionable Research program.