It was late in the second world war, and most resources, including new fire apparatus, were being directed to the war efforts rather than local communities. While the supply may not have been available, it did not mean the demand was not there. The town of Cornelius, Oregon approached local fabricator Gloyd Hall with the idea of building a fire truck. Mr. Hall scrounged what material he could find, mostly oak flooring, and created a fire truck on a 1941 Ford chassis. 

Other communities saw his work and asked him to build them a truck as well, but Mr. Hall was a gas station owner an not a business man, so he developed a business agreement with the Neep company, who sold the vehicles under their name. Approximately 100 vehicle were produced under the Neep name before Mr. Hall broke away and started building apparatus and installing the Western States name badge. This transition occurred in the mid 1950's. 

If you are familiar with American Fire Apparatus, you will notice many similarities in the Western States products. Mr. Hall apparently developed a close relationship with the owner of American and not only built a body almost identical, but also utilized the American pump, later known as Barton American. The Barton pump was a Western States standard up until the time the pump manufacturer was purchased by Hale and the Barton line was dropped. 

Western States played a major role in the fire apparatus industry in Oregon and Washington, and there was time when it was difficult to go into any town or fire district and not find at least one rig they had built. Through the years, the company built many front mount pumpers and wet side water tenders. Although the company was known for its front mount configurations, they built quite a few mid-ship pumpers as well.
 
The "Intra Cab" pumper was a Western States specialty, taking a custom cab chassis and installing the pump under the seat with the controls coming out the front of the cab. This allowed for more water or compartment space on a shorter chassis. The Intra Cab design was also shared by American Fire Apparatus, who built several pieces of apparatus with the pump out the front of the cab.
 
The first Intra-Cab pumper was built for the Forest Grove Rural Fire District in the early 70's, and used a standard front mount pump that was mounted inside the cab. Subsequent Intra-Cabs used a Barton American pump mounted under the cab seat with manifolds running to the front of the cab. This opened up the cab area to allow additional seating for firefighters. 

The first Intra Cab pumpers were built on FWD chassis, but the majority of Intra Cabs were built on chassis purchased from Seagrave. When Western States no longer had access to the Seagrave chassis, Spartan became the chassis of choice for the Intra Cab. The last few Intra Cab pumpers built utilized the HME chassis, as Spartan had concerns about over heating and would not warrant the chassis if the grill was eliminated.

As you will see in the pictures, many of the fire engines built by Western States, including midship pumpers, were built on Seagrave chassis. This was a unique scenario that not too many fire apparatus builders enjoyed. The relationship with Seagrave developed when Western States hired Ron Sheldon, who had spent several years as a factory technician for Seagrave. Mr. Sheldon came to Western States when Seagrave closed its west coast operations, but he brought with him his close ties to the company. He was able to negotiate an agreement that allow Western States to purchase Seagrave chassis and do their own body work, selling them as Western States Fire Apparatus. Mr. Sheldon left Western States in the late 1970's and later started his own business known as Sea Western.   
 
Western States was in business until 2003, when management chose to liquidate what few assets were left and walk away from the fire industry. Despite a tarnished reputation in recent years, Western States will always be a respected name in the industry and must be recognized for many unique innovations.