Nationwide Fire Truck Shortage Impacting Mass. Departments. IAFF Asks For Investigation.

CBS Boston

May 19, 2025

The Quincy Fire Department secured funding for new fire trucks in 2022, but now three years later they still don't have them. Manufacturing delays are forcing them to buy used trucks from other cities. Now, the International Association of Firefighters is asking the U.S. government to step in and investigate the companies who build the vehicles.

"We are waiting on an engine and a ladder right now, and it has been three and a half years," said Quincy Fire Chief Joe Jackson. "The build times to actually get these trucks built has quadrupled. It's a huge problem being able to plan. Some of these trucks that I'm ordering now, are likely to be received by another fire chief, and I think about that, and it's so weird."

The fire department has some trucks in service that are more than 20-years-old. They are only able to keep them in service because they have two maintenance workers who constantly work on them. This is only made possible because car dealer Dan Quirk donated the department a large maintenance space on his property. Without the space, Chief Jackson says they wouldn't be able to keep this going.

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