By Kelli Baxter
Where do fire trucks come from? Well, those brightly-colored fire engines you might have seen lumbering along local parade routes this summer, and trucks used by fire departments across the United States,  were probably made right here in Chisago County.

General Safety in Wyoming manufactures about 200 fire trucks a year and ships equipment to fire departments all over Minnesota, and to cities in states such as Texas, California, Colorado. The business also has contracts with Saudi Arabia, China, South Africa, Panama and more.

General Manager Steve Reedy (left) and General Safety President Kevin Kirvida stand next to one of the new airport fire trucks being built at the company’s Wyoming facility. The Panther Aircraft Rescue fire engine costs about $1 million and holds about 3,000 gallons of water. It also is loaded with a dry chemical foam made to extinguish jet engine fuel fires.  Photo by Kelli Baxter

General manager Steve Reedy says it’s the business’ “quality product and dedicated employees” that helps General Safety attain such a wide distribution.

North Branch residents may remember General Safety from the 40 years it operated near the railroad tracks and Peterson’s Country Mill. The business upgraded to a bigger facility in Wyoming in 1992.

“We added on to the North Branch facility three or four times, by then we were land locked,” said General Safety President Kevin Kirvida, whose grandfather started the business in Lindstrom in 1929.

Kirvida said the building in Wyoming was twice as large as the North Branch site. At the time, he said he thought it would be more space than they would need.

“Three years later we expanded, then we expanded again ... last year we acquired the building across the street,” he said, describing the sprawling facility off U.S. Highway 61.

The company’s growth and success in a tough economy can partly be attributed to its 1995 partnership with Rosenbauer, a fire engine manufacturer in Linz, Austria, which is how General Safety came to build trucks for its foreign customers. 

Before General Safety paired with the 145-year-old business that also is family-run, Kirvida said, “Minnesota was our single biggest user.”

Although the company receives orders for hundreds of trucks from customers worldwide, it always makes time for fire departments here.

“We try to spread orders out so that we have room for local municipalities,” Reedy said.

General Safety also makes time for charity. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, employees decided they would donate a new fire truck to the New York City Fire Department.
“It was a time when everyone had this feeling of loss and helplessness,” Kirvida said. “And we were all talking about what we could do.”

Kirvida said after contacting NYFD firefighters, what they needed most was a heavy rescue truck. The truck is bigger than a typical fire truck - called a pumper - and typically takes twice as long to build, Kirvida said.

But with overtime and weekend labor donated by General Safety employees, as well as donated parts such as reflective striping from 3M and a chassis for the engine from Mack Trucks, Kirvida said the new truck was delivered to the New York City Fire Department on the one-year anniversary of the attacks.

To put that in perspective, Reedy said it takes about one year for the smaller pumper fire truck, which costs about $500,000, to be delivered to the customer.  

Not only does General Safety deliver to fire departments, it also makes trucks specifically to fight fires at airports. A new truck currently in production at the Wyoming facility is the Panther Aircraft Rescue engine. 

Kirvida said it holds about 3,000 gallons of water, plus dry chemical foam that helps extinguish jet engine fuel fires.

What does the future hold for the company? Kirvida says to look for more fire trucks using green technology, meaning the trucks use less fuel and cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. He said response has been good so far from fire departments wanting the “green” trucks.

“Everybody wants to jump on that bandwagon,” Kirvida said.

Even if incoming orders slowed, Kirvida said General Safety has at least a year’s worth of business to keep its workers busy.

In the 80 years the company has been around, there’s always been a need for fire trucks — whether it’s for parades or airports.

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