Ferrara Equipment

[jfrd04]

We have just put prelim specs and bids out for a new pumper and Ferrara came back looking good. Their are not many in my area and I was wondering if anyone can give me some info on the durability and crafstmanship of these trucks.

JFRD4

[Resq14]

Our neighbor to the south is buying mostly Ferrara now... they have a few with more on order I believe.

Contact(s): Daniel R. Small
Fire Chief

Address: 366 Tuttle Road
Cumberland, ME 04021

Telephone: (207) 829-5421

FAX: (207) 829-4256

EMail: cfdhq@maine.rr.com

http://www.cumberlandmaine.com/Publi...quipment/index

[jfrd04]

Rescu14,

Are you familiar with Ron Shink?? he was once was our chief and now I believe he is on the North Yarmouth Department. Thjanks for the info we will most likey set up a meeting with them to talk about the truck.

JFRD4

[Resq14]

Yes! He is one of our Captains in Yarmouth.

Another department that is leaning towards Ferrara trucks lately appears to be the City of South Portland. One of them was being lettered at the local sign shop here in town last week.

At least you can find out about service after the sale, and how they've been holding up in this area.

[porche911]

Ask them about the "wheelie platforms" in the mid-west and just how many degreed engineers they actually employ full time. My experience through others is if you let them and they don't win the job they have their lawyers get involved.

Remember, if something seems too good to be true, it usually is!

[smokeater81]

jfrd04,

I don't usually do this, but in this case I thought I would make an exception.

My department bought a Ferrara approximately two years ago, and have had nothing but problems since.

We've had electrical problems, PTO generator problems twice, and customer service problems.

We are in the process of even replacing seat belts in all the seats, due to them braking.

This is just a few items that we've had problems with. I have heard of other departments having similar problems.

Hope you have better luck.

[livewire09]

smokeater81 and jfrd04,

I am not trying to knock Ferrara, but just letting you in on some things we had. We have 2 engines from them, and we too have had electrical and PTO problems with the latest engine we purchased. We actually had to take it out of service for awhile because we would respond to a call and it would die on the way there. Just totally shut down to an idle. It wasn't a good situation. I'm curious smokeater81, are your rigs custom or commercial? Ours are commercial and I was wondering if that had anything to do with it. I must say though that the customer support was very good, there was no problem there.

With the other engine which is about 3.5 years older, our only major problem was the air horn didn't work 80% of the time, this has since been fixed.

Good luck to you jfrd04

[smokeater81]

livewire09,

I'm not trying to knock Ferrara, instead just trying to pass on information that I have.

Our unit is a custom. Unfortunately, it was a demo. I think that has a lot to do with it.

I don't want to give the impression that the company is not reputable, because I only have one truck to judge it by. However, every time I deal with them I'm more dissappointed.

[DowntownHeat]

I have seen many Ferrara apparatus in the South Texas area and none of them had any more problems than any of the other manufacturers. A lot depends on how you spec your rig out. Don't get carried away with the "bells and whistles", just more things to break. Good luck yours.

[fireappspec]

A friend of mine works for a FD with two Ferrara pumpers. Not to hop on the bandwagon, but they too have been a huge headache since delivery. As a matter of fact, they are both slated for replacement in the near future due to unreliability (even as reserve apparatus). Specifically, they have had electrical problems, service due to some vague warranty issue, and getting replacement parts.

[CaptainMikey]

I knew a few people with a dept that used ferrara for their new pumpers,they got 2(not sure on specs or price), They had their fair share of problems, but the company has a few teams that travel across the country to fix the problems, after everthing was fixed, the units were in excelent shape and condition.