Spartan Emergency Response

Spartan Emergency Response, or simply Spartan, is a fire apparatus manufacturer located in Charlotte, Michigan, with additional manufacturing facilities in Brandon, South Dakota, Ephrata, Pennsylvania and Snyder, Nebraska. The company also manufactures and supplies fire chassis to other fire body manufacturers. Spartan ER was a division of Spartan Motors prior to its purchase by REV Group.

History

Spartan Motors

Spartan Motors was formed in Charlotte, Michigan in 1976 by four engineers from the bankrupt Diamond-REO truck company. Spartan designed and manufactured a custom cabover chassis for fire services. Like Duplex, Hendrickson, Oshkosh and Pemfab, Spartan supplied chassis to apparatus body manufacturers - this market niche falls between custom apparatus built entirely by apparatus manufacturers (like Pierce or E-One) and commercial chassis rigs like Ford, Freightliner or GMC. Unlike their specialty competitors, Spartan would build chassis to end-user specifications, enabling smaller body manufacturers to offer a custom apparatus option. The Spartan chassis was popular, and apparatus manufacturers throughout North America offered (and continue to offer) Spartan-chassis apparatus.

In the 1980s, Spartan also began to build custom chassis for motor homes.

Early models included the CFC, CFG and CFH chassis. The Gladiator was introduced in 1983 and continues to be one of Spartan's most popular models. Other models introduced in the 1980s and 1990s included the Diamond, the Monarch, the rear-engine Silent Knight and the GT-One. The Metro Star and Advantage were introduced in the latter part of the 1990s and the Metro Star remains in production today.

Fire Body Manufacturing

In 1997, Spartan entered the apparatus body side of the industry through its acquisition of Luverne Fire Apparatus Ltd. of Brandon, South Dakota and Quality Manufacturing Inc. of Talladega, Alabama. Initially, the two facilities continued to operate as subsidiaries under their original names, but were merged in 2003 to form Crimson Fire. Spartan also acquired Road Rescue Inc., an ambulance manufacturer in St. Paul, Minnesota. Road Rescue was later sold to Allied Specialty Vehicles. In 2011, Spartan acquired Classic Fire of Ocala, Florida.

The last Crimson Fire branded apparatus was delivered in 2013 to Tatamy Volunteer Fire Company.

Spartan ER

In 2012, Spartan rebranded Crimson as Spartan ERV. In 2017/2018 Spartan Motors rebranded Spartan ERV as Spartan Emergency Response. Spartan purchased Smeal in 2017 and acquired all their brands, Smeal, Ladder Tower Company (LTC), and US Tanker.

Spartan ER and Spartan Chassis were consolidated under the Spartan Motors brand. In 2018/2019 Spartan ERV was rebranded under the Spartan ER banner.

REV Group

On 03 February 2020, the REV Group announced its acquisition of Spartan ER effective 01 February 2020. Spartan Emergency Response and its brands, Spartan Fire Apparatus and Chassis, Smeal Fire Apparatus, Ladder Tower (LTC), and US Tanker (UST), will immediately become part of REV’s Fire & Emergency (“F&E”) segment. REV Group also purchased the rights to the “Spartan” name and logo, which it is licensing back to Spartan Motors for its RV chassis business.

Timeline

Year	Action
1975	started by four young engineers from Diamond Rio Trucking Company
1997	acquires Luverne and Quality
2003	merges Luverne and Quality and renames Crimson Fire
2011	purchases Classic Fire
2012	rebrands Crimson as Spartan ERV
2017	acquires Smeal, LTC and US Tanker
2017	consolidates Spartan ERV and Spartan Chassis under Spartan Motors brand
2018/19	rebrands Spartan ERV as Spartan Emergency Response (Spartan ER)
Feb 2020	Spartan ER and its subsidiaries and brands acquired by REV Group

In 2020 the remainder of the business units not acquired by REV Group rebranded under the name The Shyft Group. These included:

• Royal Truck Body,
• General Truck Body,
• Strobes-R-Us,
• Utilimaster,
• Duramag,
• Spartan RV Chassis, and;
• Builtmore Contract Manufacturing.

Products

Spartan Emergency Response sells a full line of pumpers, aerial devices, tankers, rescues and brush trucks on custom Spartan and commercial chassis through a Western Hemisphere-wide dealer network. Major customers include Dallas Fire-Rescue Department, Chicago Fire Department, Houston Fire Department, and Toronto Fire Services. The company has also received major contracts from Peru, Chile and Brazil.

Custom Chassis

Current Models

• Spartan Gladiator
• Spartan Metro Star
• Spartan Sirius
• Spartan FC-94

Discontinued Models

• Spartan Advantage (1999-2010)
• Spartan Advantage "Big Easy" (2003-2007)
• Spartan Diamond (1989-2010?)
• Spartan Furion (2007-2012)
• Spartan GT-One
• Spartan Monarch (1987-1994)
• Spartan Metro Star-X
• Spartan Silent Knight

Cab Lengths

• ER - Two Door (77.10")
• LTD - Long Two Door (+33")
• SMFD - Short Medium Four Door (+45")
• MFD - Medium Four Door (+54")
• EMFD - Extended Medium Four Door (+60")
• LFD - Long Four Door (+67.5")
• ELFD - Extended Long Four Door (+74")

Roof Configurations

• Flat
• 5" raised
• 10" raised (shown above)
• 20" raised
• 24" raised

Aerials

Ladders

Model	Brand	Rear Axle	Ladder Reach	Operating Range	Payload / Flow Capacity	Stabilizers	Body Styles	Tank Capacity
55' Rear-Mount Ladder	Smeal	Single	55' vertical / 50' horizontal	-6° to 72°	500 lbs dry or wet / 1250 US GPM	1 set of H-style outriggers (13'-6" jack spread)	Quint or truck style	Up to 750 USG
75' Rear-Mount Ladder	Smeal	Single or Tandem	75' vertical / 71'-6" horizontal	-6° to 72°	750 lbs dry or wet / 1500 US GPM	1 set of H-style outriggers (18' jack spread) w/ optional 2 downriggers	Quint or truck style	Up to 600 USG (tandem axle)
75' Rear-Mount Ladder	Ladder Tower	Single	75' vertical / 66' horizontal	-7° to 78°	500 lbs dry or wet / 1500 US GPM	1 set of H-style outriggers (14' jack spread)	Quint or truck style	Up to 500 USG
100' Rear-Mount Ladder	Smeal	Tandem	100' vertical / 97' horizontal	-6° to 72°	500 lbs dry or wet / 1250 US GPM	1 set of H-style outriggers (18' jack spread) w/ 2 downriggers	Quint or truck style
105' Rear-Mount Ladder	Smeal	Tandem	105' vertical / 101'-5" horizontal	-8° to 72°	750 lbs dry or wet / 1500 US GPM	2 sets of H-style outriggers (16' or 18' spread)	Quint or truck style	Up to 600 USG
110' Rear-Mount Ladder	Ladder Tower	Tandem	110' vertical / 99' horizontal	-7° to 78°	750/500 lbs dry/wet (14' jack spread), 500/250 lbs dry/wet (12' jack spread) / 1500 US GPM	2 sets of H-style outriggers (12' or 14' spread)	Quint or truck style
125' Rear-Mount Ladder	Smeal	Tandem	125' vertical / 121' horizontal	-12° to 72°	750 lbs dry or wet / 1500 US GPM	2 sets of H-style outriggers (18' spread)	Quint or truck style

Platforms

Model	Brand	Ladder Reach	Operating Range	Payload / Flow Capacity	Stabilizers	Body Styles	Tank Capacity
85' Mid-Mount Platform	Smeal	85' vertical / 81' horizontal	-12° to 72°	1000/500 lbs dry/wet / 1500 US GPM	2 sets of H-style outriggers (18' spread)	Quint or truck style	Up to 300 USG
85' Rear-Mount Platform	Smeal	85' vertical / 81' horizontal	-12° to 72°	1250/500 lbs dry/wet / 2000 US GPM	2 sets of H-style outriggers (18' spread)	Quint or truck style	Up to 400 USG
93' Mid-Mount Platform	Ladder Tower	93' vertical / 88'-6" horizontal	-10° to 78°	1000/500 lbs dry/wet / 2000 US GPM	2 sets of H-style outriggers (18' front spread, 16' rear spread) w/ 2 front bumper downriggers	Quint or truck style
100' Mid-Mount Platform	Smeal	100' vertical / 99' horizontal	-12° to 72°	1000/500 lbs dry/wet / 1500 US GPM	2 sets of H-style outriggers (18' spread)	Quint or truck style	Up to 300 USG
100' Rear-Mount Platform	Smeal	100' vertical / 98' horizontal	-12° to 72°	1250/500 lbs dry/wet / 2000 US GPM	2 sets of H-style outriggers (18' spread)	Quint or truck style	Up to 400 USG

Booms

Model	Brand	Ladder Reach	Operating Range	Payload / Flow Capacity	Stabilizers	Tank Capacity
28' Boomer	Crimson	28'	-10° to 90°	1000 lbs/ ?	None
50' and 65' TeleSqurt	Ladder Tower	50' and 65' vertical / 42' and 60' horizontal	-10° to 85°	750/250 lbs dry/wet / 1000 US GPM	1 or 2 sets of A-frame outriggers (11'-9" spread)
54' Squrt	Ladder Tower	54' vertical / 45' horizontal	N/A	N/A / 1000 US GPM	1 set of A-frame outriggers (11'-9" spread)
55' Snorkel	Ladder Tower	55' vertical / 32' horizontal	N/A	750/500 lbs dry/wet / 1000 US GPM	2 sets of A-frame outriggers (11'-9" spread)

Tractor-Drawn Aerials

Model	Brand	Ladder Reach	Operating Range	Payload / Flow Capacity	Stabilizers
100' Tractor-Drawn Aerial	Ladder Tower	100' vertical / 94'-5" horizontal	-2° to 75°	250 or 500 lbs / no waterway	2 sets of H-style outriggers (14' or 16' spread)
105' Tractor-Drawn Aerial	Ladder Tower	105' vertical / 100' horizontal	-7° to 78°	500/250 lbs dry/wet / 1000 US GPM	2 sets of H-style outriggers (16' spread)

Discontinued Aerials

The LTC brand discontinued the:

• 75' TeleSqurt

The Crimson brand discontinued the:

• 28' Boomer

The Spartan ERV brand of aerial products was discontinued upon re-branding.

• 75' Rear-Mount Ladder
• 75' Mid-Mount Platform
• 93' Mid-Mount Platform
• 100' and 103' Tractor-Drawn Aerial
• 100' Mid- and Rear- Mount Platform
• 103' Rear-Mount Ladder

Quick Delivery Pumpers

• Spartan S-180

Commercial Pumpers

• Side-Mount
• Top-Mount

Custom Pumpers

• Intelligent Pump Solutions (IPS)
• Transformer
• Side-Mount
• Top-Mount
• Top-Mount Enclosed
• Rear-Mount

Rescues

• Walk-in
• Walk-around

Tankers

US Tanker

• Heritage Dry-side tanker
• Heritage Wet-side tanker
• Patriot Elliptical tanker

Wildland Apparatus

• Water Tender
• Types 3 and 4

External Links

• Spartan Emergency Response
• Spartan Motors