SUV Command Vehicles: Filling a Niche within a Niche

Within the apparatus market, there’s a niche within a niche and that is SUV-based command vehicles.

They’re the ones built on Chevy Suburbans or Ford Expeditions and even crew cab pickup trucks and companies that make them have seen an uptick in sales.

“I do see more on the road now,” said Adam Grecco, director of technology for First Priority Emergency Vehicles, Inc., a specialty apparatus builder and dealer in Manchester, NJ. “Larger municipalities are buying more. Places like FDNY, NYPD, Boston, they seem to be opening up now. Smaller fire departments will be following soon. There’s been a slow rise.”

Jeff Morris, president and owner of Alexis Fire Equipment in Alexis, IL, has a theory about why there’s been a growing interest in SUV-based vehicles.

Cost savings

“For a while, nobody wanted them,” Morris said. “They don’t pump water and you can’t get any [insurance] rating for them. Trustees couldn’t justify them. Now, the swinging pendulum is going back the other way. People are looking at the maintenance on the ‘big girls’ and they having a hard time justifying the maintenance. Maintenance is out the freaking door, so people are saying we have to do something different.”

And what’s different in the SUV-based command vehicles, Morris said, is fire departments can sometimes justify the purchase cost just on tire savings alone at a rate of at least $1,000 a pop. Running the big aerial, or command vehicle on lots of runs can cost $6,000 to $12,000 in just tires, Morris said.

“It doesn’t take long to cover the cost of an SUV,” Morris said.

Grecco also believes that finances are a big factor in the rise smaller command vehicles. He said the “sweet-spot” for those types of vehicles is around $50,000 to $55,000 and up to $75,000 for crew cab pickup trucks with aluminum or fiberglass caps on the backs. That’s a fraction of the cost of a custom cab and body command vehicle which can run $250,000 or more, Grecco said.

Deciding what command vehicle is best is based on the individual department's decision process, Grecco said. Departments have to determine the budget and the mission, he said, noting that some departments might find box, dry freight trucks as a good intermediate step between an SUV-based unit and a full-sized custom apparatus.

“It can be painted and dressed up,” Grecco said. “You can do it up with lights …we’re not married to any specific body.” He said there’s even been an uptick in Sprinter vans with raised roofs being used for command vehicles.

While First Priority will create command vehicles on virtually everything but the heavier commercial and custom cabs and chassis, the company’s specialty is in the SUV-based vehicles, with four-door pickup truck based units coming on strong.

The SUV-based vehicles are typically Chevrolet Tahoe models, or Ford Expeditions, Grecco said, noting that there are still a few Chevrolet Suburban models out there too, although they’ve become very expensive at the base price and are, consequently, dropping in popularity.

Customizing command SUVs

Some of the common components of SUV command vehicles include LED scene lighting, programmable sirens and warning lights, and slide out cabinets and desk units.

“Slide out systems are pretty neat,” Grecco said. The ones built by Fire Priority have tank-like tracking systems, lighting in the cabinet and power sources for radios, scene lighting and other tools and equipment. He said because most lights are LED now, there’s no need for external generators.

Another trend Grecco said he’s seen lately is the movement away from the mobile data terminals (MDTs) which are essentially heavy-duty laptop computers, in favor of tablets. He said Samsung Galaxy units and iPads are becoming the computer of choice. That’s because they’re lighter, smaller, are portable and the user is not confined to inside the cab to do inspections, investigation or command operations. And, with built-in network hardware and software in the tablets, there’s no need to have a Wi-Fi hot spot in the vehicle, he said.

“You can take a nine-inch tablet with you and leave the vehicle,” he said. “You are not limited to sitting in the vehicle.”

Grecco said another trend gaining popularity is pickup trucks which, generally, have a higher gross vehicle weight capacities, meaning there is more that can be placed in the back with heavier suspension.

“And, you can have the same number of passengers,” Grecco said.

Some departments add aluminum or fiberglass cabs on the back and customers can have their choice of gasoline or diesel engines.

“Pickup are huge,” Grecco said, adding there are more accessories for pickups, like winches and push bars. “They’re a lot more flexible.” They can even be fitted with service-style bodies with many cabinets for different missions.

He said pickups are “a tad more” than SUV-based apparatus with a price of between $60,000 and $70,000.

Pickups can be outfitted with better suspension, better brakes and off-road capabilities, he said.

Some departments use the vehicles as support vehicles with multi-purpose uses, such as dive team or ice water rescues. Some departments are devoting half the vehicle to fire operations and half as Advanced Life Support (ALS) operations.

“The emphasis on dual purpose is trending more lately between fire and ALS,” he said.

When it comes to making the purchase, Grecco said he’s seen more departments use cooperative purchasing programs like the Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) cooperative purchasing program.

“Everyone hates the public bidding process and it’s hard to do,” Grecco said. “…HGAC is an amazing thing for us. You can avoid the bidding process but still acquire the best price. A lot of people are doing that.”

Daniel Huang, chief operating officer of First Priority Emergency Vehicles said the HGAC approach “provides transparency” in the acquisition process. “It’s all there in black and white for a purchaser,” he said. “From a pragmatic point, you avoid the cumbersome approach of public bidding.”

Huang said it eliminates the problem of unhappy bidders and provides only qualified bidders. He said there’s a $1,000 administration fee that customers must pay, but it’s well worth it because it’s all on the internet and is right there in front of the customer.

“Moving forward, we expect to see more of it,” Huang said.

Jeff Morris, the president and owner of Alexis Fire Equipment, said giving the customer what they want is what most builders strive to achieve, whether it’s through a grant process, competitive bidding or cooperative purchasing.

“Some customers want the Taj Mahal, even the smaller volunteer departments,” Morris said when it comes to command vehicles. The norm, however, is the Tahoe, or the Expeditions.

“You can get them with command desks, nice light packages and power supplies,” Morris said.

There was a time when SUV or small command vehicles were not favored because they couldn’t fight fire without a pump and most departments didn’t want to spend money on things that wouldn’t provide insurance credit.

But times change. Now, Morris said departments are seeing the value of smaller apparatus when it comes to maintenance costs.

“It’s a shift,” he said. “Instead of running the big rigs, you can run the small unit out with a paramedic, instead of sending the ALS engine out. The little trucks are coming more into play.”

Staffing is an issue for many departments and it might be easier to get a small ALS unit out faster with a smaller crew, he said, adding that the staff on the first unit out can radio back if additional apparatus or resources are needed.

Morris said his company builds both the small SUV command vehicles as well as full-blown fire apparatus, all with the eye toward filling customers’ needs.

“Basically, they are the same thing,” Morris said. “We tweak to the needs, providing customization.”

Like First Priority, Morris said he’s seen a trend to pickup trucks with “camper-type” caps on the back, capable of holding Stokes baskets, backboard and, if it’s a three-quarter ton pickup, maybe some battery-operated extrication and rescue tools.

“Everybody would like one,” Morris said. “From the departments that have 100 calls a year, to the hot departments. …It’s a steady little business.”

Morris said there’s not a lot of grant money out there for SUV command vehicles and most of the departments are coming up with the funds to make the purchase. And, they are doing it with the idea of saving money on maintenance to underwrite the purchase.

With sky-high maintenance costs, it’s conceivable to pay for a small SUV in three years of maintenance savings, especially if fire departments go for a used, refurbished unit which is significantly lower in cost.

SUV-based command vehicles are also ideal for towing trailers, like those for mass causality incidents, and they can be used for doing errands and transporting firefighters for training. Costs of operations are significantly lower on an SUV than, say, a $1 million aerial.

“To save the wear and tear on the big girls, it’s worth it,” Morris said.