If there’s anyone who loves an excuse to rail against the evils of private equity, it’s Elizabeth Warren. But based on the reactions to her latest tirade, which targets the firms who consolidated much of the American firetruck industry in recent years, it seems constituents would prefer she focus on the economic damage she and her peers are believed to be causing before pointing fingers at private businesses.

In an August 5 video, the Democratic senator shed light on changes to the emergency vehicle manufacturing pipeline, which has gone from being run by dozens of competing businesses to a small handful of companies that she says have become “a threat to public safety” given the prices they charge.

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“How did we get here?” Warren asks, comparing the $1 million cost of a particular Massachusetts fire engine in 2017 to its $2.5 million price tag in 2026. She blames the escalating fees and delivery timelines on the three private corporations that now serve 70% to 80% of the market.

“They bought up the competition, they control the supply…. so when they create a shortage, a shortage for something you have to buy, the supplier gets to name the price,” she says.

Multiple causes at play

While the economics she’s suggesting certainly aren’t wrong, many jumped in to comment on the fact that there are a slew of other factors contributing to price hikes for things like firetrucks lately — some of them being the government’s doing, not private equity’s.

“Inflation is the biggest factor. It’s tough to face the consequences of your own actions, Miss Remove the Debt Ceiling,” one person replied.

“How about you start with the things the government is doing to screw things up instead of once again butting into the private sector,” another X user said, pointing to the expenses associated with adhering to strict energy efficiency standards and other federal regulations for “things they do not need.”

In a fall 2025 article on this exact subject, Fire Apparatus Magazine identified factors like the nation’s ever-changing environmental and safety regulations, increasing design complexity, and severe material and labor price volatility as contributors to soaring prices for emergency vehicles.

Even the AI-led microchip shortage has played a role, along with tariffs and the demands of creating trucks that meet evolving NFPA, EPA, extended warranty and other guidelines. And, another round of stringent EPA rules for engines made after 2027 presents new challenges and expenses that fire districts associations are already worried about.

Rising demand is also a concern — the early 2020s marked a 43% uptick in the average number of firetruck orders across the US compared to previous years.

“This translated to increased lead times, resulting in manufacturers buffering their costing estimates to account for future uncertainty around labor, material and component pricing,” the article reads. It adds that the 2027 changes mean “additional costs of not only the new engine, but also the engineering costs associated with modifying truck chassis and bodies to accommodate the new engine designs and systems.”

What industry insiders say

While the article pushes back against the idea of industry consolidation being the key issue, the first responders Warren spoke to, who are working to allocate thin budgets in the face of exorbitant bills, disagree.“What’s the incentive of opening another plant, hiring more people or speeding up production? We’re locked in, they have us,” one said in the clip.

Last spring, the International Association of Fire Fighters requested a Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission probe into the three big companies in the biz — REV Group, Oshkosh, and Rosenbauer — for “possible antitrust business practices,” complaining of price gouging, backlogs and “textbook monopolization.”

A New York Times investigation into the sector last year likewise criticized how the private enterprises streamlined operations (including closing factories), to boost profits, which had an impact on production volume and costs.