Durango Fire Protection District has filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit against three major U.S. fire truck manufacturers alleging they overcharged fire departments nationwide through price-fixing.
The 56-count complaint alleges “a conspiracy to unlawfully raise prices and restrict supply,” the fire district said in a news release announcing the lawsuit Thursday.
The lawsuit names REV Group, Rosenbauer America and Oshkosh Corp. and its subsidiary, Pierce Manufacturing.
They are the largest fire truck manufacturers in the nation, together representing 70% to 80% of the market share, Chris Cowan, an attorney representing the fire district, said in the release. He said their market capture is the result of a decade of private equity consolidation.
The lawsuit also names the trade association Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association.
FAMA allegedly enabled the manufacturers to “exchange competitively sensitive, nonpublic information and monitor compliance with the conspiracy,” according to the lawsuit.
The manufacturers allegedly traded sensitive information through FAMA, which allowed them to suppress supply, artificially inflate prices and ensure compliance among them, the lawsuit said.
Oshkosh denied any wrongdoing.
“The allegations in this lawsuit are without merit, and we are defending ourselves in court,” an Oshkosh spokesperson said in a written statement to The Durango Herald. “Oshkosh remains focused on delivering safe, high-quality fire trucks while continuing to reinvest in our U.S. operations to meet record demand.”
In a statement submitted Sept. 10 to the U.S. Senate subcommittee on fire apparatus costs, Dan Meyer, vice president of sales for Pierce, said the subsidiary’s prices accounted for labor and material costs. Demand, inflation and supply challenges reached historic levels near the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
“As supply chains were strained and costs increased during the pandemic, our customers took a hit, and we did too,” he said. “Now, the rate of price increases has slowed significantly as inflation has leveled, and demand and lead times have begun to normalize.”
REV Group and Rosenbauer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A FAMA representative said the association had no comment before hanging up the phone.
Cowan, the attorney representing DFPD, said in an interview the fire district is the first agency to file a lawsuit over the alleged conspiracy in Colorado – to his knowledge.
Similar lawsuits have been launched in Maine, Kansas, Oklahoma, California, Wisconsin, New Jersey and Massachusetts, he said.
Cowan addressed the DFPD Board of Directors about the allegations at a March 24 regular board meeting, and the board voted to move forward with the lawsuit.
“It’s a wild time that manufacturers are able to extract (these) kind of prices and the increases, really, over the last decade,” he said in an interview. “They’ve been able to do way beyond typical price increases over inflation plus reasonable profit.”
He said the alleged conspiracy to artificially inflate prices and suppress supply “destroys the level playing field that competition should provide.” He added it harms communities – not just fire departments – across the country.
Fire Chief Randy Black told the Herald skyrocketing prices and yearslong delivery schedules make it impossible to properly budget for new apparatuses in the long-term, calling fire truck prices “outrageous and frustrating.”
He said costs for Pierce fire engines have soared from roughly $700,000 in 2022 to over $1.2 million in 2025, and those increases are partly why the fire district asked taxpayers to support a mill levy increase last November.
“We can’t buy equipment that’s doubling in price in a six-year time frame. There’s no budget in any town that exists that can make that work,” he said.
Specific purchases by DFPD listed in the lawsuit illustrate the rapid price increases.
In September 2023, for example, the fire district purchased a Pierce Enforcer Pumper for nearly $801,300. In December 2024, it purchased another identical truck for nearly $878,300 – a price increase of almost 10% in just over a year.
The fire district purchased a Pierce Freightliner 4x4 Pumper for $528,619 in February 2024. It purchased another pumper for $614,241 in March 2025 – a price increase of 16% in one year.
Black said DFPD received two trucks last summer it had ordered in October 2022. If he tried to order a ladder truck with custom specs now, he’d receive it in 2031.
A Pierce Enforcer Pumper the fire district purchased in August 2022 had a lead time of 18.5 to 20.5 months, according to the lawsuit.
The purchases were made through dealer Front Range Fire Apparatus in Frederick.
The lawsuit included a July 2022 email to Black from Duane Doucette, owner of Front Range Fire Apparatus, explaining prices and lead times changed “overnight.”
“Over the last 20 plus years we have been used to 8 to 10 month deliveries and annual increase of 2.5 to 3% but it seems just overnight it has changed to 30-month deliveries and several 3% to 5% increases a year,” Doucette said.
Black said the fire truck market is unrealistic and inconsistent with the emergency response profession. When a fire department needs equipment, it needs it immediately – not five years down the line.
Cowan said sky-high prices and long delivery times risk leaving agencies unprepared for emergencies, which creates public safety risks and drives up home insurance rates.
Cowan said the lawsuit is pursuing remedy through the federal Sherman Antitrust Act, the Colorado State Antitrust Act and the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.
DFPD seeks a jury trial, recovery of overcharges, treble damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees and costs.
If the district court sees merit in DFPD’s case, Cowan said, the fire district would take the lead and ensure Colorado law is applied equally to other agencies statewide.
“We hope to do some good and get the overcharges refunded and get back to a competitive market that used to exist,” he said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
