Rescue Humor The Entertaining Side of Police, Fire & EMS
This past weekend Pierce Manufacturing, the makers of some of the best Fire Engines and other Fire apparatus on Earth celebrated their 100th birthday. Pierce shares their home with me in the Fox Valley area of Wisconsin. As a kid I saw fire engines daily when driving past Pierce on the way to school, and sports. Little did I know that later in life I would become a volunteer firefighter and be driving one of those vehicles!
To celebrate 100 years Pierce held a weekend long celebration. On Saturday they had an open house at their main facility. The day started off with a fire engine parade and then the open house allowed for people to tour the plant to see how these vehicle are made.
Arrival at Pierce 100th Birthday
The self guided tour allowed people to walk around and see all that goes into a fire engine.
The Pierce Paint booths
It also allowed the community to find out how big a reach Pierce has. Having been on a tour of the plant before when we purchased fire engines, I knew they made fire apparatus for many other nations. At one point in the tour they had a line of engines all ready to ship off to China. Imagine that made in the USA but going to China!
A fire engine going to China
There was also some Pierce and firefighting history. The hall from the main plant to the business offices is a museum area showing off photos and relics of firefighting from the past. Including the below brick that is all that is left from Pierce’s first plant in downtown Appleton.
A brick from their original plant
On Sunday Pierce hosted a 911 memorial stair climb. The stair climb was at Lambeau field, home of the Green Bay Packers!.
911 Stair Climb at lambeau field
Pierce 911 Stair Climb
Pierce 911 Stair Climb
While my Law Enforcement duties make it such that I can no longer be a Volunteer Firefighter I am still proud to have been a member of the fire service. I am also proud to know that a company right in my backyard has such an global reach and plays a part in saving so many lives with that global reach!
So in closing we at Rescue Humor want to say Happy Birthday to Pierce Manufacturing.
