Private Equity is Inflating Costs for Fire Departments — Firms are buying up essential suppliers like emergency software, radios, fire truck engines, and flame retardants, then sharply raising prices.V

olunteer Fire Departments are Hit Hardest — Making up 85% of U.S. fire departments and operating on tight budgets, many face massive price hikes — such as software costs jumping from $795 to $5,000 per year.

Public Safety Must Come Before Private Equity Profits — States should block private equity ownership of critical services, and Congress should close the carried interest tax loophole that benefits these firms.

Private equity firms are buying up all sorts of things that fire departments rely on — and jacking up their prices. 

This is particularly harmful to volunteer fire departments, which make up about 85 percent of fire departments in the country and operate on shoestring........

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