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A lot of companies are laying off workers. But a manufacturing plant in a prairie town, population 78, is bucking the trends. Central States Fire Apparatus of Lyons, S.D., builds fire engines and rescue vehicles. Since it was founded in 1982, the company has grown every year. A new $27 million contract ensures growth for the next two years.

	Central States Fire Apparatus is a successful manufacturer of fire engines and rescue vehicles. Its location in tiny Lyons, S.D., does not seem to be a disadvantage. In fact, some customers like the small-town attitude and pride displayed by the employees. See more images of the company. (MPR Photo/Cara Hetland)

Sandy Green has a grin from ear to ear as he watches his new fire truck back out of the show room floor.

"I knew it was going to be big - seeing it for the first time took my breath away. It's a big truck," says Green.

The red pumper truck is headed to the testing room. Thousands of gallons of water will flush through its system. Then, Sandy Green will drive the truck 1,300 miles back home to Davis, W.Va.

"We are a very rural area of West Virginia, about 180 miles due west of Washington D.C," says Green. "It's a volunteer department. About 800 people live in our area, full time residents. But because of the ski areas...and the state parks that are close by, we have the possibility of about 8,000 to 12,000 people on any given weekend."

Green is deputy chief of the Davis volunteer fire department. He says they needed an all purpose fire truck - one that can fight fires and also act as a first responder.

At any one time there are 40 fire trucks on the assembly line at Central States Fire Apparatus. The plant is 15 miles north of Sioux Falls. 150 employees work in four huge metal buildings. Each truck is custom made.

Owner and CEO Harold Boer says the remote location keeps overhead down. He says rural land prices have helped Central States grow to the fourth largest manufacturer of fire trucks in the nation.

	Harold Boer is the owner and CEO of Central States. He started the company nearly 20 years ago, when his community's volunteer fire department needed a truck. He built one. Now his company employs 150 people. (MPR Photo/Cara Hetland)

"As long as you're close to a good source of raw material and labor, that's all you need. And transportation, because we have a lot of customers and dealers that fly in to inspect their vehicles," Boer says.

In the late 1970s Harold Boer and his wife, Helen, ran a corner gas station in Lyons. Boer did welding and mechanical work for area farmers. After a fire burned down his business, he started a volunteer fire department. The department didn't have a truck, so he built one. Boer continued to refine his design, and Central States Fire Aparatus was born.

Central States has now merged with two other companies. They send fire trucks all over the world, and have dealers in 45 states. Owner Harold Boer says the new $27 million order will send 235 firetrucks to Saudi Arabia. It'll also give his employees job security for the next two years.

Boer says the soft economy could really hurt a business like his. He says the events of Sept. 11 will have an impact. It'll be a while before they know how severe, since many trucks are ordered a year in advance.

"Since the economy is off a little bit, revenue for cities is down a little," Boer says. "But there's a heightened awareness for public safety type things, so we don't know if they're going to increase funding for them - or because revenues are off a little bit, they'll cut fire departments back also."

Boer says the worst case senerio is that Central States will stay at its current production level. Best case, he says they'll put up another building and add 20 employees.

Dealers and customers say getting a fire truck from a small town family business means they're getting a product from people they come to know and trust - a custom truck that is as much a part of the workers who build it, as the people who buy it. There's proof of that connection on the walls of the assembly line - framed pictures of each truck made in Lyons.