Federal Safety Equipment, Inc.

Les & Jan Swartz founded Federal Safety Equipment (FSE) in 1979.  A disabled veteran, Les established the company in his residential garage to meet the needs of fire departments and ambulance services in the Southern NY region.  Federal Safety Equipment became a corporation in 1980 and in 1981 purchased property located at 23 Kinney Street in the Village of Candor, NY.  A steel building was constructed which allowed the company to have offices, a showroom, and several garage bays for the repair and installation of equipment on emergency vehicles.  FSE now is expanding the bay areas to enable the assembly of “Hard Attack” fire vehicles. 

            In the summer of 2007, FSE added the manufacture of small “Hard Attack” fire fighting apparatus to its product lines.   The vehicles are based on the chassis selected at the customer’s preference then necessary components for the various options are assembled from local and regional sources.  These “Hard Attack” vehicles are essentially custom built for a variety of purposes. The vehicles are then assembled in the Candor facility and delivered to the customer as a turn key unit ready to be put into service.  The uses range from brush fire fighting applications to emergency aviation crash vehicles. 
 
            As FSE President, Mr. Swartz has shown intuitive management abilities through foresight, dedication, consistency and daring in the growth of his business from a simple start-up in a garage to a 38,000 square foot facility generating revenues in excess of $1.5 million and employing six (6), with plans to hire two (2) more, in a small town sorely in need of employment opportunities.  The company is a major employer in its small town location.

            “Working with Les and his staff has been a real pleasure for me.” says Ken Homer, SBDC Business Advisor.  “They have an exciting new product and are continually exploring new markets.” and “Hard Attack is something we have wanted to do for a long time.  Ken and the SBDC have been terrific in providing direction and mentoring as we have developed this avenue of our business.” adds Les.