‘What we do matters’ Decades of experience, dedication drive Fort Garry Fire Trucks Made in Manitoba
By: Aaron Epp Posted: 6:32 PM CDT Thursday, Mar. 13, 2025

One of the benefits of growing up with a parent who owns a company that makes fire trucks? Being ferried around in a pumper.

Lisa Suche has fond childhood memories of her father, Rick Suche, dropping her and her older brother off at school every now and then in a vehicle made by his company, Fort Garry Fire Trucks.

“We thought it was so cool,” Suche recalls, smiling at the memory.

Last year, Rick marked 45 years with the company. Meanwhile, the younger Suche has worked at FGFT for more than 20 years, currently in the roles of purchasing manager and quality systems manager.

The 105-year-old business is highly successful, but many Winnipeggers don’t know it exists.

Located within CentrePort on the northwest edge of the city, FGFT is the largest fire truck manufacturer in the country. The company employs 150 people and does $45 million in sales annually.

Each year, it manufactures around 100 vehicles that range in price from $350,000 to $4 million.

A map of Canada in one of the company’s boardrooms is full of pins that indicate communities where a vehicle made by FGFT is at work; small flags specify fire departments that have multiple FGFT vehicles.

The company is currently building trucks that will be delivered to Whistler, B.C., Dauphin, Halifax and DeWitt, N.Y.

FGFT has also built trucks for fire departments in South America, Asia and Africa.

“I’ve always enjoyed walking out on the shop floor and just seeing people taking pride in their work and putting their faith in each other to put out that product,” says Robert Pike, corporate services manager. “They’re truly craftsmen.”

Seeing the finished product arrived at its destination is also meaningful, he adds. “That’s a showpiece for 20 years, but that’s also something a community’s going to need for 20 years.”

Many FGFT employees have been with the company for decades. Walk around the manufacturing plant and it’s easy to see the care with which people do their jobs.

Still, to further motivate employees, the company is planning a mural for one wall of the plant that will say: “What you’re doing saves people’s lives.”

Lisa Suche recalls the days when she and her brother accompanied their father to trade shows, the two siblings outfitted in matching white satin jackets with FGFT logos on the back.

She’s happy to have found a place at the company in her adulthood.

“I love coming here every day,” she says. “What we do matters.”

In a lane between Fort Street and Garry Street in downtown Winnipeg, Fred Sisinski founded Fort Garry Industries Ltd. as a tire and vulcanizing shop in 1919.

Over the following 60 years, the focus of the business changed numerous times, along with its ownership and location.

In 1979, Rick Suche bought into the company.

A volunteer firefighter in Clearwater Bay, Ont., where his family has a cabin, Suche believed there was an opening in Canada for another fire truck manufacturer. The company started building trucks and eventually changed its name.

At the beginning of 2013, the company became one of CentrePort’s first tenants when it moved into a brand-new, $7 million, 50,000-square-foot plant.

Today, the company builds an array of fire trucks, custom-built pumpers, aerial ladders, water delivery tankers and related firefighting equipment.

FGFT’s head engineer has somewhere between 150 and 200 base models with 10,000 options that allow buyers to customize orders to exact specifications.

Engineers create a 3D computer model of each order that outlines every detail, right down to the placement of the screw holes for the licence plate.

Numerous employees have worked as firefighters and are available to provide input.

The company’s slogans include “One tough truck” and “Engineered for the extreme.” Whether a fire department is working in -40 C or 40 C temperatures, FGFT seeks to make a truck that can withstand the elements.

The trucks undergo numerous tests, including a third-party audit, before leaving the facility. Once the trucks are ready to go, staff members with firefighting experience deliver them and give the firefighters who will be using them a thorough demonstration.

Having numerous experienced firefighters on staff, including the owner, goes a long way toward building trust with potential customers.

“It means a lot to the fire chief that the owner knows one end of the hose from the other,” says Brian Nash, vice-president, sales.

Ultimately, the company aims to treat customers with the respect they deserve.

A 1-800 number is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in case a fire department has any questions about their new vehicle, and warranty claims are settled within 24 hours.

Working in the firefighting industry becomes part of who you are, says Nash, who joined the company in 1996.

“This gets into your blood and I think it’s largely because of the people you’re dealing with and the service they provide,” he says. “You just get tight with these guys. The relationship building in this business is second to none.”

Pike can relate.

Being a firefighter and working at FGFT has been such a big part of his life that when he and his wife, Tammy, got married almost 30 years ago, they forewent the customary classic car or limousine and rode to their wedding reception in a fire truck.

As with every company facing U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, FGFT is waiting to see how things will play out.

The company sources the chassis for each vehicle from the U.S., and 70 per cent of the components on each truck, including the pumps, valves and tanks, are made in the U.S., too. Alternative suppliers are not readily available.

“If we have to pay 25 per cent more, it could be extremely damaging to us,” Nash says. “We’re trying to remain optimistic that it will be over soon but, at the same time, we’re planning for it.”

Meanwhile, Rick now gets to take his grandchildren — including Lisa’s son Riley and daughter Amelia — to school in a firetruck.

Lisa accompanied him on such a run a few weeks ago, making use of the loudspeaker to tell her children, in front of their schoolmates: “Bye. I love you. Make good choices.”

She’s not sure how much her 13-year-old son appreciated it.

“But my daughter’s 11,” she says, “and she thinks it’s cool.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca