Fire Equipment Company Expands Fairhope Office

Mobile Press Register

3/16/03

A local company that has sold fire trucks and equipment to several Baldwin County communities is investing $850,000 in a new facility in Fairhope.

Sunbelt Fire Apparatus is expecting to create 10 jobs over the next three years when it moves to a new location on Greeno Road.  It employs  about 30 people at its facility on McGowin Drive.

The Company purchased the 250,000 square foot Cintas/RUS building at Greeno Road and McGowin Drive.

Founded in 1983, Sunbelt sells and repairs fire and emergency management vehicles in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and northwest Florida.

Sunbelt is a fire apparatus dealer for the E-One Fire Truck Co. in Ocala, Florida.  It also distributes parts and equipment for all types of fire and emergency medical service products.

A ground breaking ceremony was held at the new site Friday afternoon.

"We are really excited about the expansion in Fairhope and feel we will have a positive impact on the economy in Fairhope and Baldwin County," Sunbelt's Thomas "Tom" McLendon Jr. said in a prepared statement.

The company sold Seminole - a central Baldwin community near the Florida state line - its first new fire truck in the fall of 2001.  The Freightliner FL80 four-door, raised-roof pumper cost Seminole $145,500.

Until the 2001 model was in service, the volunteer fire department's newest vehicle was a 1975 model.

Sunbelt also has sold trucks or equipment to Spanish Fort, Barnwell, Fairhope and Daphne.