Oshkosh Truck Subsidiary, Pierce Manufacturing, Awarded Contract By Chicago For 18 Aerial Ladders; Long-Term Contract With America's Third-Largest City

    APPLETON, Wis.--Aug. 23, 2001--Pierce Manufacturing, the leading North American manufacturer of custom fire apparatus, was awarded a three-year contract by the City of Chicago for 18 Pierce Dash(R) aerial ladder trucks equipped with 100-foot medium-duty ladders.
    The city's Department of Fleet Management Commissioner Bob Degnan, working in conjunction with Fire Commissioner James Joyce, approved the contract in mid-August. The contract is for three years with an option for two more. The first trucks of the initial order of 18 vehicles could be delivered as soon as this December. The total order could be for 40 to 45 trucks over the life of the contract.
    A key feature of the Dash aerial apparatus is its 10-foot 8-inch overall height, which was part of the City's requirements because of fire station door height; low historic bridges as well as the viaducts for Chicago's world-famous "L" trains. The trucks also include rear air-ride suspension.
    "We're very proud to be providing the fire apparatus for this great American city," said Robert G. Bohn, Oshkosh's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We're also proud that our engineering staff could work with the city to customize our Dash chassis - which is one of our all-time great vehicles - to meet the low, low 10-foot 8-inch height requirement of these aerial units. This is another situation where Pierce excels at customer service because our apparatus are engineered, custom built and tested to the customer's exact specifications."
    Oshkosh Truck Corporation is a leading manufacturer of specialty trucks and truck bodies for the fire and emergency, defense, concrete placement and refuse hauling markets. Oshkosh Truck is a Fortune 1000 company with products marketed under the Oshkosh, Pierce, McNeilus, Medtec, Geesink and Norba brand names. The company is headquartered in Oshkosh, Wis., and had annual sales of $1.324 billion in fiscal 2000.