Firehouse.com

CHARLOTTE, Michigan, Nov. 19, 2009 – Spartan Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPAR) today announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Utilimaster Corporation from John Hancock Life Insurance Company, a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading Canadian-based financial services group, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $45 million. Utilimaster is a dominant manufacturer of specialty vehicles made to customer specifications in the delivery and service market, including walk-in vans and hi-cube vans, as well as truck bodies.

TORRANCE, CA – November 17, 2009 – Pelican™ Products, the global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced lighting systems and virtually indestructible cases, has hired Paul Britton in the newly created position of Technical Sales Manager.

 Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania— KME Fire Apparatus has recently received awards for 15 pumpers, 4 tractor drawn aerials and a tender by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. This award adds 20 additional KME's to the LACoFD fleet.

At a time when most history museums are cut out of the state budget, two donors gave the Fire Museum of Maryland a combined donation of $185,000. The donations will help replenish its endowment and help the museum to conserve the third largest collection of fire apparatus and artifacts in the world. They will also provide matching funds for new grant opportunities. Both donors requested amenity with their donations of $25,000 and $160,000.

Redlands, California—To help users evaluate ESRI's mobile geographic information system (GIS) solutions, the company is conducting a free live training seminar this month that will demonstrate the technology's versatility and power. Introduction to ESRI Mobile GIS Solutions will air at www.esri.com/lts on Thursday, November 19, at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 3:00 p.m., Pacific standard time.

Upland, CA, November 6, 2009 – Champion Rescue Tools, the leader in new vehicle construction hydraulic rescue tool technology, and Volvo Cars of North America proudly announce that the State of Idaho's Emergency Services Training has approved their jointly-sponsored Five Star Extrication Academy as the state's official curriculum for instructors' advanced auto extrication training.

Beaverton, Ore. November 4, 2009 -- A local apparel manufacturer announced a new partnership today with an Oregon-based non-profit to help strengthen family ties for first responders.

The locally-based apparel company, Airtime Gear LLC. , announced its partnership today with Responder Life, a non-profit organization out of Sandy, Ore., devoted to improving family ties for police, fire and emergency services professionals.

Junior firefighters can now take advantage of the many great benefits of being a member of the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC). The NVFC is offering a new membership option especially designed for junior firefighters. A year-long Junior Membership to the NVFC can now be purchased for just $10 at www.nvfc.org/membership. The membership will become active on January 1, 2010.

When rugged counts...Havis® new DS-PAN-401, a fully rugged docking station for Panasonic's CF-52 Toughbook, is designed with extensive port replication and built to survive the rigors of mobile computing.  Based on years of experience designing docking stations for vehicles, Havis tested the