"What serves you?" 40 years on, this is still our guiding principle

2026 is WFR Wholesale Fire & Rescue's 40th Anniversary

April 1, 2026 by

WFR Wholesale Fire & Rescue Ltd.

It starts with the customer, and asking ourselves, "What serves you?" In 1986, Bill Allen, our founder, found there was a lack of product knowledge and service in our industry, and endeavored to fill this need. Since that time, we have grown and expanded, maintained that drive to serve, and still ask ourselves how we can best serve our customers:

What improves firefighter safety?
What simplifies your job?
What increases value?
How can we address your needs?

In recent years, supply changes have been disrupted, leading us to increase our warehouse and stock capacity to shorten delivery time and have more of the equipment you need ready to ship.

Unprecedented wildfires year after year have led us to expand our product offering of wildland equipment and to have more of it in stock for quick delivery.

Budgets are stretched thin, and we work with vendors to offer product lines with quality, durable, equipment at different price points to lower your overall cost of ownership, and offer more value for your money.

Increasingly, it seems more is asked of you, which is why we have built an expansive online store that allows to you browse, gather quotes, purchase equipment, and review the status of orders when it is convenient for you.

And while it seems like things are constantly changing, there are somethings that continue throughout our history: we have sought to bring together knowledgeable staff to answer your questions, to provide guidance and support, and who are driven to serve. We work with vendors to provide equipment that fills a need; is reliable; is durable; and improves firefighter safety.

That commitment is reflected in the partners we choose to work with. These include durable thermal imagers from Bullard that offer better visibility with X-Factor 2.0 image enhancements; the intrinsically-safe line of lights from Nightstick to reduce ignition risk in hazardous environments; Mercedes Textiles hose that offer smooth inner waterways, yielding an extremely low friction loss for maximum flow, plus thoughtful features like Wayout Couplings that provide a built-in directional cue to navigate out of a structure in low-visibility; and Fire-Dex which focuses on lightweight, breathable, flexible turnout gear that eases heat-stress on your body without compromising the protection you need.

It takes time to build trust, to build relationships, to build a reputation. We don't take that lightly. We are gratified to be celebrating this milestone and deeply appreciate the relationships we've built with our customers these past 40 years. As we look ahead, we aim to keep walking that same path and asking ourselves, "what serves you?"