BEE COUNTY, Texas — One of the world's biggest producers of firefighting equipment is about to open up operations in the US and they're doing it in Bee County.
The company is called National Fire Fighting Manufacturing and they are based in Dubai. The company has just signed a 50 year lease at the industrial complex at Chase Field and word is they're planning to hire up to 400 people.
Randy Seitz is the President and CEO of the Bee Area Partnership. He was the featured speaker at this Beeville Rotary club meeting. He went over the details of how he and other County economic leaders were able to convince the owners of NAFFCO to open up their first US manufacturing facility in Bee County.
County Judge George Morrill believes that the Dubai based company represents a huge economic shot in the arm.
"The oil field dipped off a little bit and we have a great group of employees that are waiting to work and what they need is a quality company to work for and we believe we have that with NAFFCO so we're very excited about this," Morrill said.
"The first phase is that they're going to produce high density polyethylene pipe fittings," Seitz said. "The second phase is they're going to produce fire pumps and then when they get in the third phase, they're actually going to be producing fire trucks, ambulances and mobile hospitals right here in the county."
Orlando Vasquez, the Chairman of the Bee Development Authority and the Bee Area Partnership, said NAFFCO's owner could have opened up a manufacturing facility anywhere in the country.
"This is their first step into United States and they chose this county that ought to say something to the rest of the state," Vasquez said. "They chose Bee County. They could've gone anywhere but they chose us instead."
Vasquez said there were incentives offered to the company to open up shop there and that played a role in the company's decision.
Vasquez added that the biggest reason was that the owner said he was impressed by the people he met here. He wanted to do business here. And now that word has gotten out about this deal, other companies are now supposedly looking coming to Bee County.
"We are getting calls, we're getting emails, text messages left and right from businesses already looking to possibly make some relationship with us," Vasquez said.
We are told that NAFFCO is making it's Bee County operations the US headquarters for manufacturing jobs.
It will not only provide a lot of high paying jobs but County economic officials are hoping it will also attract other businesses to locate here.
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