Rebuild of Tornado-Damaged LION Facility Complete

DAYTON, OH – LION First Responder PPE, Inc., the largest family-owned manufacturer of first responder personal protective equipment (PPE) in the United States hosted a reopening reception to inaugurate the opening of its rebuilt manufacturing facility located at 66 Janney Road, Dayton, OH 45404 on Aug 4, 2020. The event included an official ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Nan Whaley and other local officials, as well as a tour of the facility.

In October 2018, LION First Responder PPE, Inc.- a division of Vandalia-based LION- invested $1.7M to acquire and renovate the 55,000 square foot facility, pledging to create approximately 75 full-time jobs, further expanding the company’s footprint in its hometown. In May 2019, horrific tornadoes swept through Dayton and demolished nearly 75% of the new plant. Since then, LION has diligently worked to not only repair and rebuild the site but also expand capacity to include four new manufacturing lines. LION is currently hiring to staff multiple production positions, starting at $15 per hour. Interested parties can contact the facility directly at 937-233-3540, or at lionprotects.com/careers.

The primary focus of this facility will be the manufacturing of LION first responder personal protective equipment (PPE)- including traditional firefighter turnouts as well as the popular MT94™ CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, & nuclear) defense ensemble, as its protective clothing business continues to grow. The proximity to its Vandalia-based operations allows for increased collaboration with the group’s product management team.

“We are very excited to reopen our restructured plant and continue to bring new apparel manufacturing jobs to the City of Dayton,” said Steve Schwartz, LION President and CEO. “This facility will greatly enhance LION’s existing manufacturing capacity and allow us to continue to improve production and delivery times to meet our customer’s expectations. We thank the City of Dayton, Montgomery County, the Dayton Development Coalition, the Dayton Sewing Collaborative, Citywide Development, and JobsOhio for their support in making this project successful.”

The north Dayton facility is in a Dayton Source Water Protection Area (SWPA). The City of Dayton Source Water Protection Program (SWPP) is a multi-jurisdictional approach to guarding the public water supply for 400,000 customers in Dayton and Montgomery County. The program was and is designed to identify and mitigate risk to the sustainability of the region's sole source aquifer system, which serves as the City's drinking water source. Prior to the tornado, LION became the first company in Dayton to be awarded Blue-Gold Certification, demonstrating their commitment to protecting the area’s source water through preventive efforts, risk reduction and protection strategies.

About LION

Founded in 1898 and headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, LION is a family-owned company with a legacy and ongoing vision of introducing new products and services designed to ensure the health, safety and performance of first responders worldwide. From game-changing personal protective equipment (PPE) and professional gear maintenance to state-of-the-art fire safety training tools and facilities, it is LION's mission to make sure that you're READY FOR ACTION -- before, during and after. To learn more, visit www.lionprotects.com