Another major Sacramento-area business will be winding up their operations through bankruptcy court. Placer Fire Equipment, a Rancho Cordova company that builds fire apparatus for local and state agencies, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Sacramento on March 3.
The effect of Placer Fire Equipment's bankruptcy will be felt elsewhere in the Sacramento area. Its clients included the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, the governor's Office of Emergency Services, and the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District. The company owes nearly $1 million to Folsom-based Sierra Vista Bank, $63,000 to Sacramento County Airports, and at least eight employees will be out of their jobs and may be out of back wages as well. In bankruptcy, the court will liquidate Placer Fire Equipment's assets and distribute the proceeds among its creditors. But, with total debt of $3.8 million, it is unlikely that any creditor will receive more than pennies on the dollar.
It is hard not to at least partly blame the economy for any company's failure. Placer Fire Equipment went from $1.6 million in income in 2008 to a more than $1 million loss in 2009. While the news has been dominated by bank failures, foreclosures, and unemployment. It is stories about small companies that capture how starkly fortunes of many Americans changed because of forces beyond their control.
