Hub Fire Engines & Equipment Ltd. is a Canadian fire apparatus builder located in Abbotsford, British Columbia. It is currently Canada's oldest fire truck manufacturer.
History[]
Hub was formed in 1959 and built its first pumper, on a 1959 Ford F series chassis, for Matsqui BC, which is now part of the City of Abbotsford. The original owner and founder was Henry Whitehouse, who was also the Fire Chief for the Matsqui VFD. Soon after starting Hub, he formed a partnership with Doug Roney, the owner of Roney Fire Equipment, an apparatus builder in Portland, Oregon. Initially called Roney's of Abbotsford, Hub founder Henry Whitehouse, along with his wife Lillian and son George ended up purchasing the Canadian assets when Roney ceased operations in 1960. The company was renamed Hub, as Abbotsford is considered the "hub" of British Columbia's Fraser Valley. The original Hub factory was also Matsqui's original 1 bay Fire Hall. The company started out building pumpers, tankers and rescues for small fire departments in British Columbia. By the 1980's they had sold trucks to every province and territory in Canada. They also built 11 trucks for Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services and 3 Grove-equipped aerial trucks. Their hometown of Abbotsford has been their biggest customer purchasing a total of 24 trucks through the years.
In 1973, the Whitehouse family sold the company to partners Earl Smith (a firefighter in New Westminster BC) and Richard Mannering. The operation moved into a new facility in 1977. By the 80's, sales had expanded beyond British Columbia all across Canada. A short lived sales office was opened in Cambridge, Ontario in 1988 and plans were made for a second manufacturing plant to serve eastern Canada, but the sales office closed and the plant was never built.
Hub partnered with the Simon Snorkel Company of the U.K. in 1986, but only 3 Hub trucks with Simon platforms were built. The company also served as the Canadian dealer for E-One from 1988 until 1991, ending only when E-One purchased Superior Emergency Vehicles in Alberta.
Hub was sold to new owners in 1995. In 2000, the company began a partnership with Freightliner / American LaFrance, building complete trucks for that company. For several years, American LaFrance trucks sold in Canada were delivered with Hub serial numbers and a small Body by Hub plate on the pump panel. The partnership ended in 2007 with a total of 105 LaFrance/Hub trucks being built under the contract. Hub continues to boast a healthy order book and in early 2023 its 1300th truck rolled out of the factory.
On 19 April 2023, Hub announced that it had been acquired by Safetek Group.
Production[]
Hub has built over 1300 pumpers, tankers, rescues, brush trucks and aerials since 1959. Deliveries have been made all across Canada, with some trucks built for American fire departments in Texas and Washington, the French islands of St. Pierre & Miquelon and Canadian-owned mines in Peru and Chile.
See also[]
Departments operating Hub apparatus
Sources[]
- Dubbert, Bob, Shane MacKichan and Joel L. Gebet. Encyclopedia of Canadian Fire Apparatus. Hudson, WI: Iconografix, 2004. ISBN 9781583881194.