Fresno company ships first-of-its-kind firefighting truck to Kansas City

A Fresno-built fire truck with the world’s largest vehicle-mounted ventilation fan is headed to Kansas City, Missouri, where firefighters and rescue crews cover about 319 square miles across three counties.

Tempest Technology, based at 4708 N Blythe Avenue in Fresno, is sending the custom Mobile Ventilation Unit to the Kansas City Missouri Fire Department. The unit is designed to clear smoke, heat and toxic gases from complicated fire scenes, giving crews a faster way to make buildings safer to enter and improving the odds for trapped occupants.

The truck’s signature feature is a 60-inch vehicle-mounted fan, which Tempest says is the largest of its kind in the world. The fan sits on a hydraulic scissor lift that can extend 20 feet into the air and rotate 360 degrees, allowing firefighters to position the equipment where it can move air most effectively during an emergency. Tempest’s MVU line is built to move 150,000 cubic feet of air per minute, and the company says its hydraulic system is designed for long operating times and frequent use.

For Tempest, the Kansas City order is another example of a Fresno manufacturer competing well beyond the Valley with specialized public-safety equipment rather than commodity products. The company says it has been in business for more than four decades and helped pioneer positive pressure ventilation, a firefighting technique meant to push smoke out of structures and improve visibility and survivability inside.

Tempest also says it built its first fire MVU in 1996 and now has more than 100 units in service around the world. Its product materials describe the company as the first to offer some of the largest, high-powered ventilation fans in the world, including 60-inch truck-, trailer- and skid-mounted units.

That reach matters in Fresno County, where advanced manufacturing often operates outside the public spotlight even as it ships highly specialized equipment nationwide. Tempest says it is trusted by more than 50,000 government and nonprofit organizations, a customer base that reflects how local engineering work from Fresno can end up on the front lines of public safety in other major cities.

The Kansas City truck is expected to hit the road Monday, April 15, 2026. For Fresno, it is a reminder that a local shop on North Blythe Avenue is building equipment with a national footprint and a lifesaving purpose.