NIEDNER

Niedner traces its origin back to 1895 when Charles Niedner immigrated to North America and began manufacturing linen fire hose in Malden, Massachusetts, in the first half of this century, linen fire hose represented a significant portion of the requirements in forestry and interior fire protection. The Malden plant expanded in size, and business increased to the point where a second manufacturing facility was built in Coaticook, Quebec in 1914. This plant was added to in several stages and finally retired in 1992. During that same year Niedner moved to new leased premises valued at $3,300,000. and built a new manufacturing center.
This state of the art facility consists of in excess of 80,000 square feet (7,400 square meters) exclusively devoted to the research, development and manufacturing of rigid and lay flat liquid distribution hoses, destined for both domestic and export production.

In the early 1970's when it was evident that the product line was too limited to offer long-term growth, a substantial investment was made in the latest technology which would ensure a viable future in the fire hose industry. The fire hose operations of American Biltrite (Canada) Limited were acquired and a facility was added in York, Pennsylvania. In December 1995, the Fire Control Division of Wajax Limited was purchased by a newly formed Company operating under the name of the Wildfire Group.
The commitment of the Wildfire Group will ensure the continued growth and dedication to our present and future customer needs. The total of these changes permit Niedner to offer a wide range of products in both traditional woven-jacketed, rubber-lined fire hose and lightweight, polyurethane lined hose that Niedner pioneered in North America. These lightweight products have now been manufactured for over twenty years and represent a major portion of Niedner's production. Features such as weight reduction by one half, reduced storage space by one third, flexibility at extremely low temperatures and an increased strength-to-weight ratio have allowed Niedner to become a major supplier to the forestry, municipal, industrial, interior protection, government and snowmaking markets.

WILDFIRE GROUP

The Wildfire Group manufactures and distributes internationally a wide range of portable fire control equipment and fire hose. The Group consists of Wildfire Fire Equipment Inc. in Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Abbots Ford; Niedner Limited in Coaticook and Wildfire Pacific Inc. in Seattle.

PRODUCTS
Wildfire Fire Equipment Inc. is the leading North American producer of forest fire fighting equipment and is well known worldwide. The company has been involved in manufacturing fire pumps and inline accessories for over 100 years. It made a name for itself in the field of high pressure, portable, lightweight engine driven fire pumps under the name of "Wajax" some 50 years ago.
It has held a dominant position in this field. Since then with a specialized line of equipment, which is lightweight, and lends itself to back packing through forests to fire and water locations. Fire hoses, manufactured under the name of Niedner, is also another lightweight, high-pressure item, once again designed for fighting forests fires. They also make fire hoses for municipal, industrial and other specialized applications.

MARKETING STRATEGY
One of Wildfire objective has been to develop long-term markets in the export field. These efforts have met with considerable success in such markets as United States, Chile, Argentina, Australia, Indonesia and Korea. More recently our efforts in Southern Europe have met with growing success, with sales to forest fire services in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.

Wildfire is the sole manufacturer in North America that produces complete systems from the water source to the fire. This is where our strength lies when servicing export markets. Our distribution network with branches in strategic locations throughout Canada and the United States and export agents in other international markets provides the after sales service which is of utmost importance in the fire service.

Wildfire has considerable experience in mounting training seminars worldwide for both end users of the equipment and local distributors. These seminars include the application of the equipment for fire fighting situations, the recovery and maintenance of the equipment, as well as workshops on fire control in general.

CUSTOMERS
Key clients include various levels of governments (federal, provincial / state and municipal) in Canada and the United States, governmental forest service agencies in many countries throughout the world, as well as forestry and logging companies.

WILDFIRE PACIFIC INC.

Wildfire-Pacific originated at the turn of the century as the fire division of the largest marine supply company on the west coast - Pacific Marine Supply of Seattle, Washington. Pacific Marine manufactured and sold gasoline-powered portable fire pumps and accessories to the marine, logging, and wood products industry in the Pacific Northwest.
In WWII, Pacific Marine designed and produced over 44,000 P-60 Handy Billy portable pumps purchased by the U.S. Navy for de-watering flooded compartments and on-board fire fighting. During WWII, Pacific marine was presented the "E" award by the War Department for service above and beyond the call of duty.

In 1964, Pacific Marine's fire division was purchased by Canadian based Wajax Ltd. and its name was changed to Pacific Pumpers, Inc. The union solidified Wajax as the North American leader in forestry fire protection products with an offering that included the MARK-3 pump (still the leading forestry pump in the world).

In 1968 Pacific Pumpers purchased Wilco Fire Equipment Company, a small fire equipment dealer and extinguisher house located in Portland. Wilco offered Pacific Pumper's pump and accessories to the logging trade, and served as our entrée into municipal/industrial fire equipment distribution.

The early 1980's saw the name change to Wajax-Pacific Fire Equipment Inc. and the Company's evolution to that which it is today; an industry leading manufacturer/distributor of a complete line of fire fighting equipment for the forestry, wildland, municipal, industrial and marine markets servicing the entire United States.

In 1992 Wajax-Pacific Fire Equipment Inc. moved into a new and larger facility; introduced new and innovative proprietary pump products; strengthened distribution policies and products offered, and generally prepared for the challenges of the future.

In December of 1995, the Fire Control Division of Wajax Limited was purchased by a newly formed Company and the name was changed to Wildfire Pacific Inc.

With its ongoing commitment to the development of new and innovative products; and servicing of its customers, Wildfire Pacific Inc. will continue to be recognized as the U.S. leader in all markets it serves.