Mesa may join the growing number of municipalities nationwide filing antitrust suits against the country’s three predominant fire truck manufacturers, accusing them of colluding to drive up prices of much-needed safety apparatuses.
Fire truck prices have doubled in the last 10 years and the wait time for new trucks has increased from 18 months to over four years, affecting safety, according to experts testifying before Congress last year and plaintiffs in the multiple lawsuits.
“We are looking at joining that litigation in the near future,” Mesa City Attorney Jim Smith told council recently. “We’re going to come back to council, probably in an executive session the next couple months.”…