Municipal and Government Fleets
Fire Departments
The short answer
Apparatus body work is different work than truck body work and we price it that way. Compartment doors, roll-up shutter tracks, diamond plate, rear chevron striping and emergency lighting on engines, squads and rescues, all performed at our Yorba Linda shop. We take department purchase orders and write estimates itemized for your finance office.
01
What we see from this customer
An engine body is not a truck body. It is a bolted or welded aluminum box structure carrying compartments, a hosebed, a pump enclosure and several thousand pounds of equipment, and the panels between those compartments are frequently structural. A backing incident that dents a rear compartment door usually racks the door opening too, which is why the shutter binds afterward even though the damage looks like a simple dent. We check the opening square before we touch the panel, because a straightened door hung in a racked opening will bind again the first time a crew loads that compartment.
An engine in a body shop is a reserve rig in service or a hole in coverage, and the Southern California calendar makes that worse. Santa Ana wind events run October through December and the wildfire season that used to end now does not. Nobody wants a first out engine down in October. We would rather see corrosion, diamond plate and refinish work on a rig in February and March, and we would rather know at intake whether the unit is first out, reserve, or already slated for replacement, because that changes how we sequence the job.
Rear chevron conspicuity striping is its own job and it is done wrong constantly. The pattern has to run at the correct angle across the full rear vertical surface in contrasting retroreflective sheeting, and every compartment door gap, hinge line and handle has to be planned into the layout so the pattern still reads with doors closed and stays legible with them open. We lay it out on the actual rear before any sheeting is cut. Emergency lighting installation and reflective marking are in scope. Engine, pump and drivetrain work are not.
Location: All work is performed at our Yorba Linda facility. We do not offer mobile, roadside, or fleet route service.
02
What you are worried about, and the answer
Concern 01
An apparatus out of service means running a reserve or leaving a hole in coverage.
Tell us the rig status at intake. We order parts ahead of teardown on a first out unit and we will say plainly whether the job fits your coverage window before you release the apparatus.
Concern 02
Most body shops have never seen a roll-up shutter or an apparatus compartment frame.
We work compartment door frames, shutter tracks, aluminum body panels, hosebed and rear step structure, and the mounting behind all of it. The first check on a binding shutter is opening square, not the shutter itself.
Concern 03
The chevron striping on our rear was applied straight over the door hinges and reads wrong.
Layout comes before cutting. We map the pattern across the actual rear surface including hinge lines, door gaps and handles, so the chevrons read correctly closed and remain legible with the compartments open.
Concern 04
Emergency lighting has to come off for the repair and go back on correctly.
Emergency lighting removal, relocation, installation and wiring are in scope, done as part of the panel work rather than handed back to your shop as a loose bracket and a coil of wire.
Concern 05
Our purchasing requires a formal itemized quote and a purchase order before anything moves.
We provide an itemized quote by labor operation, hours, rate, part number and part cost, accept a department purchase order, and supply a W-9, a certificate of insurance and our BAR license number for your vendor file.
Concern 06
Diamond plate on the rear step and beavertails is scuffed, lifting and corroding underneath.
Lifting diamond plate almost always means the adhesive and fastener bed underneath has trapped moisture and started corroding the substrate. We pull it, treat what is under it, and refasten rather than gluing it back over the problem.
03
Services you need most
Service
Fleet Collision Repair and Refinish
Fleet collision repair returns a damaged commercial truck or van to service after an impact, covering cab sheet metal, box structu
Service
Cab Body Repair, Door Hood Fender and Bumper
Cab body repair addresses door, hood, fender, bumper, mirror, and step damage on a commercial cab without opening up a full collis
Service
Body Panel Repair and Replacement
Body panel repair and replacement covers sidewall sections, compartment doors, skirting, roof caps, and sheet metal on RVs, vans,
Service
Structural Welding and Fabrication
Certified in-shop welding and fabrication on steel and aluminum structure. Covers frame repair, custom bumpers and racks, reinforc
Service
DOT Reflective Tape and Compliance Marking
DOT conspicuity tape and compliance marking installs certified reflective sheeting and required lettering including USDOT numbers,
Service
Light Bar, Strobe and Emergency Lighting Installation
Emergency and warning lighting installation covers light bars, hideaway strobes, traffic advisors, sirens, and switch panels with
Service
Paint and Refinish
Full paint and refinish strips, corrects, primes, and resprays the exterior of an RV, van, trailer, or fleet vehicle in single-sta
Service
Fleet Graphics and Vinyl Wrap
Fleet graphics and wrap covers partial and full vinyl wraps, cut lettering, spot graphics, and removal on commercial vans, trucks,
04
Vehicles you run
Vehicle
Fire Engines
Fire apparatus carry aluminum compartment bodies, roll-up doors, hose beds, ladder racks, and a water tank whose mass dominates th
Vehicle
Ambulances
Ambulances are modular patient compartments bolted to a chassis, and the module-to-chassis joint is the recurring failure. Module
Vehicle
Utility Trucks
Utility trucks carry a compartmented service body loaded with tools, parts, and frequently a crane, and the compartments are where
Vehicle
Box Trucks
Box trucks put a separately built cargo body on a cab chassis, and the joint between them is where most failures start. Rear frame
Vehicle
Mobile Command Centers
Private and production command centers combine slide-out rooms, antenna and mast arrays, generators, and workstation interiors on
05
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do you work on fire apparatus or just commercial trucks?
Apparatus bodies are their own work and we treat them that way. Compartment door frames, roll-up shutter tracks, aluminum body panels, diamond plate, hosebed and rear step structure, and the mounting behind all of it. The first check on a shutter that binds after an impact is whether the opening is still square, because a straightened door hung in a racked opening will bind again the first time a crew loads that compartment full.
Can you apply rear chevron conspicuity striping?
Yes. Reflective marking is in scope. The part that gets done wrong is the layout. The pattern has to run at the correct angle across the full rear vertical surface in contrasting retroreflective sheeting, and every door gap, hinge line and handle has to be planned into it. We lay the pattern out on the actual rear before any sheeting is cut, so the chevrons still read with the compartments open.
How long will our engine be out of service?
It depends on what disassembly finds and on what an apparatus body manufacturer has on a shelf, which is frequently the longer of the two. We give you a real date after teardown rather than a hopeful one at drop off. Tell us at intake whether the rig is first out, reserve or already slated for replacement, because that changes how aggressively we order parts ahead of the teardown.
Can you install or relocate emergency lighting?
Yes. Emergency lighting installation, relocation and remounting are in scope, including the wiring and the mounting structure behind the panel. When a panel is coming apart anyway, that is the correct time to move a light that has never been in a good spot. What we do not touch is the engine, the drivetrain, the transmission, or the pump and its plumbing. Those go to your apparatus mechanic.
When is the right time of year to send apparatus in?
February and March. Santa Ana wind events run October through December and the wildfire season in Southern California no longer has a reliable end, so nobody wants a first out engine sitting in a body shop in the fall. Corrosion work, diamond plate, refinish and striping can all be scheduled deliberately rather than reactively, and late winter is the stretch where the coverage calendar actually has room in it.
Tell us what you run and what happened to it.