W.S. Darley & Co. News

Congratulations to Jeff Darley on his recent retirement after nearly five decades with Darley! Jeff graduated from Marquette with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and began his career part-time with Darley in 1974, and full-time in 1981 working as an Engineer, Shop Supervisor, Assistant Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, leading Darley’s Chippewa Falls, WI, pump manufacturing facility. Fire and emergency services Jeff Darley comments, "Hard for me to believe that my 45-year c...

In 1925, the founder, William S. Darley, met with Henry Ford in a historic meeting where they struck a deal that allowed the company to build a fire truck on a Ford Model T chassis. The first of hundreds began rolling off the production line in Chicago in 1926. This fire truck disrupted the market by offering a vehicle at a price less than 50% of the price of custom-built firetrucks like American LaFrance, Ahrens Fox, Mack, REO Speed Wagon, etc., and is on display at our corporate headquarters...

An industrial setting requires fire trucks to flow a high volume of pressured water and foam at an extremely high rate of speed to elevated storage tanks and large processing facilities. When the Exxon and Dow Chemical fire departments needed four new industrial pumper fire trucks, they trusted Pierce Manufacturing to deliver fully-equipped, highly capable apparatus with unique added features. Husky™450 Industrial foam system The 5500 gpm pump can discharge in excess of 10,000 gallons p...

In 1925, Darley's Founder, William S. Darley, met with Henry Ford in a historic meeting where they struck a deal that allowed the company to build a fire truck on a Ford Model T chassis. The first of hundreds began rolling off the production line in Chicago in 1926.  This fire truck disrupted the market by offering a vehicle at a price less than 50% of the price of custom-built firetrucks like American LaFrance, Ahrens Fox, Mack, REO Speed Wagon, etc., and is on display at the corporate he...

An industrial setting requires fire trucks to flow a high volume of pressured water and foam at an extremely high rate of speed to elevated storage tanks and large processing facilities. When the Exxon and Dow Chemical fire departments needed four new industrial pumper fire trucks, they trusted Pierce Manufacturing to deliver fully-equipped, highly capable apparatus with unique added features. Husky™450 Industrial foam system Husky™450 Industrial foam system is driven with hydraul...

Headquartered in beautiful Branson, MO, the Western Taney Fire District covers over 200 sq. miles from 12 stations, with a fleet of over 30 vehicles. Fire Chief - Chris Berndt has served since 1994, and every truck he’s ordered over the past 30 years has had a Darley pump, including 13 PSP and 5 PSD pumps. Fire Chief - Chris Berndt said, "These pumps are extremely quiet, easy to operate and allow us to pump and roll."

As the threat of wildfires increases, Ford Motor Company and the Bronco Wild Fund are donating a Bronco Badlands® SUV with Sasquatch® off-road package to the National Park Service for use in Bandelier National Monument, where it will operate a firefighting command vehicle.    fire response and disaster relief “For more than a century Ford has supported fire response and disaster relief efforts by deploying vehicles to provide emergency transportation and power and deliver es...

Darley, a pioneering manufacturer and distributor for national heroes, is pleased to announce the newest addition to its team, Slade McLendon. Slade joins Darley as a recent top graduate from Auburn University, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge and a strong commitment to serving first responders. Hailing from a family with deep roots in the fire service industry, Slade has spent his formative years immersed in the world of life safety products. Coming from one of the longest-standing E-On...

Darley announced that Timothy Nelson has been named the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company, effective May 1, 2023.  Darley Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Paul Darley, said, “Tim is a proven pioneer with a superior track record of delivering results and creating value. I’m excited to welcome him to Team Darley. He is a high-impact executive who will help grow the business for long-term, sustainable growth.”   Timothy Nelson's prior job roles Timot...

Darley’s Tactical Pumpers™ improve first responders’ agility and effectiveness. The company's tailored solutions provide a high-quality economic offering that is designed to exceed the demands of rigorous emergency management applications.  Darley’s Tactical Pumpers™ Darley’s Tactical Pumpers™ are as effective as a full-sized truck and as agile as a pickup vehicle. Darley knows there is a need for medium-sized tactical vehicles that are develope...

Wilson Jones, the former President and CEO of Oshkosh Corporation, has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors at Darley. Wilson Jones Jones brings with him a wealth of experience and expertise in both the defense and firefighting industries, working at Oshkosh Corporation since 2005 and serving as CEO from 2016 to 2021. Under his leadership, Oshkosh grew into a global pioneer in specialty vehicles and vehicle bodies, with a focus on serving customers in the defense, fire emergency,...

Defense & Security Monitor recently released their report on the top 100 Defense Contractors in 2022. The largest are household names like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and General Dynamics, with sales in excess of $20 Billion each. Darley is honored to be listed at #68 with Department of Defense (DoD) sales of $607 Million in 2022. Darley’s history of serving the US Military dates to World War II, when Darley provided thousands of pumps for the US Army and Navy, earning us the coveted E...

The Darley PSM 2000 GPM pump is the most compact, durable, and efficient 2000 GPM (7571 L/M) end-suction pump on the market. The pump has been designed by experts in fluid dynamics technology and utilizes their proprietary silicon carbide mechanical seal, which handles use and misuse better than any other mechanical seal available on the market. gearbox The gearbox will handle 19,230 ft. lbs. (26,072 Nm) of torque, and the gears are helically cut to ensure quiet operation. The impeller is va...

Electric fire vehicles, virtual reality (FR), and firefighting robots are among the new technology innovations in the fire market. They are also among the topics covered in the articles that attracted the most attention (i.e., received the most clicks) at thebigredguide.com in 2022. summary of important issues and technologies Also attracting eyeballs in 2022 were timely issues such as the labor shortage and the ongoing risk of cancer for firefighters. Fire garments were also among the topics...

Technology and change do not need to be dirty words in the fire service. There are limitless applications of using technology, like virtual reality, to address the most pressing and potentially catastrophic challenges facing the fire service. From recruiting the next generation of firefighters to dealing with the unknowns of mental health, the National Volunteer Fire Council’s (NVFC) Recruitment, Training, And Mental Health: How To Embrace Immersive Learning Technology webinar, which is...

Firefighters must be trained once or twice a year to keep their skills sharp. Providing that training in a safe environment is a challenge, and virtual reality (VR) enables exposure to the experience of firefighting. VR training In 2017, W.S. Darley & Co. first began offering VR training by partnering with virtual reality startup FLAIM, becoming their exclusive distributor in the United States. Today, Darley has sold VR systems from several manufacturers successfully to medium size fire d...

The Parrot ANAFI USA MIL is not a drone users can buy on Amazon. In fact, the 'MIL' ending makes it a drone that users just can’t buy. The ANAFI USA MIL is part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Blue small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) project that developed trusted vendors for the Department of Defense (DOD). Open-source protocol While Parrot is a French company, the ANAFI USA MIL is manufactured in the U.S., one of the stipulations of the DOD. All the drones that are p...

Decontamination used to be a word used after a hazmat incident when everyone was moving slowly around in brightly-colored encapsulated suits. Suits that, if broken down into their chemical parts, would likely be as dangerous as the chemicals they were protecting the wearer from. House Insulation Then came the inexpensive furniture made of chipboard glued together with one chemical compound and laminated in a second.  Then houses were insulated in chemical compounds and dry walled in oth...

Darley built pump serial # 1003 in 1940. It is an M500 model that pumped 500 gallons a minute at 120 psi when first built. In April of 2021, it came back to them for repairs. Given that it was more than 80 years old, it was in surprisingly good condition when they got it back. The proud team on this project includes, left to right: Paul Danielson, customer service; Heston Hughes, pump assembler; Jerrod Bromeisl, R&D machinist; and Dale Issacs, test-room technician. Good selling point The...

Darley built pump serial # 1003 in 1940. It is an M500 model that pumped 500 gallons a minute at 120 psi when first built. In April of 2021, it came back to them for repairs. Given that it was more than 80 years old, it was in surprisingly good condition when they got it back. The pump was sent to them by Chief James Maxon of Fountain, CO, Fire Department. New chief in Colorado Springs When they received the pump, they could tell it had been very well cared for but needed several repairs In...

The process of ensuring that products available in the fire apparatus marketplace are fully optimized for their intended use and are of the best possible quality is a fulfilling yet tricky one – just ask Bob Albano, the fire and rescue business development manager at Hendrickson. Virtual Fire Apparatus Conference His expertise focuses specifically on working with fire apparatus manufacturers across the country to ensure that their products are designed to meet the demands of the fire &am...

FDSOA’s Annual Fire Apparatus Conference looked a little different in 2021 given it was held on Zoom rather than in person like the previous years, but that did not stop the organization from striving towards its mission to “educate and bring safety to the streets.” The Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA)’s Chairman of the Board - Eric Valliere – current Assistant Fire Chief in Scottsdale, Arizona who has been a part of the association for eight yea...

First responders are woven into people’s everyday lives and must deal with immense daily stress to keep society safe. Due to this constant exposure to life’s most extreme situations, this can cause exponentially larger cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, panic disorder, and other operational stress injuries than within the general population. Significance of Virtual Reality How to better prepare first responders for these situations before and after dangero...

The CZU Lightning Complex Fire began late at night on Aug 16 near Boulder Creek, a quiet little town deep in the redwood forest about 20 miles northeast of Santa Cruz, California, USA. By the time it was contained on Sept. 22, it had burned 85,509 acres across two counties, destroyed 1,500 structures, and damaged 140 more. Tragically, one person was killed. fire and emergency apparatus The fire also knocked out the water system that serves more than 10,000 people who live in the San Lorenzo...

Are the employees or community trained and prepared to use a portable fire extinguisher? FLAIM’s Extinguisher VR Training Solution resolves the challenge of training without real fire.  The fully immersive virtual reality solution enables the safety teams to train safely, train frequently, and train smarter at a fraction of the cost of nearly $5 per 30 min. training session! Passive classroom training Passive classroom training, with videos and lectures where students a...

Are users using e-learning, PowerPoint, or PDFs for training? RiVR Link enables a VR “Classroom in a Box“ solution for the fire industry. The RiVR Link “Classroom in a Box” solution offers instructors an interactive and engaging teaching tool for classroom education using 360° video and images. This allows for a multi-user capability, the ability to draw in real-time within the students’ headset, and to use their own 360° video/photo content or professional...

FLAIM Systems Pty Ltd takes another step forward in the evolution with the official launch of FLAIM Trainer® in North America at FDIC 2018.  FLAIM is proud to be working with WS Darley and Co (Darley) as its official distributor and one of the most innovative and progressive companies in the fire industry. FLAIM Trainer® The launch of FLAIM Trainer® in the North American market continues our efforts to deliver next-generation training solutions to the emergency services sec...

2020 has been one of the seemingly unprecedented challenges for the American fire service in confronting a global pandemic crisis of the COVID-19 virus. During the year first responders have borne the brunt of being on the front lines or 'tip of the spear' in responding to persons affected by the pandemic and infected with the virus. personal protective measures During this struggle, numerous first responders themselves have become ill with contracting the virus and many have tragically suc...

W.S. Darley & Company is working with the American Red Cross to provide safe water to those in need in Puerto Rico. Safe drinking water is a critical need throughout the island after Hurricane Maria. Critical infrastructure was wiped out and public health officials fear it could lead to epidemics. It may take years before the infrastructure is repaired, requiring industry to bring new ideas and products to meet the shortfall. Darley Safe Water Box To meet the immediate short-term need i...

The EM 2000 is available in both two-stage and single-stage configurations. The EM has been an incredibly solid product for Metro customers.  New customers, including Edmonton, Charlotte, and Toronto, as well as longtime Darley Demanders Cleveland, Tacoma, Beijing, and many others, have demanded the EM pump, reporting the extremely low total cost of ownership and unparalleled reliability and longevity. Enhanced CFD programs While they are proud of the consistently positive feedback,...