American LaFrance, currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, announced it has hired A. Matthew Karmel as the new president and CEO. Bill Hinz, who was formerly the president, is now the chairman of the company.

In a press release in mid-March, American LaFrance indicated it also was looking to fill the positions of chief financial officer and chief operating officer to round out the senior leadership team. It noted that it has “discharged personnel in the engineering and finance leadership and currently are searching for permanent replacements for those individuals” as well.

The press release also stated the company was in the process of bringing back the furloughed shop work force as part of a gradual ramp-up of production. It expected that production would start by the end of March, although it did not mention the production rate and noted that many apparatus currently on order would be past due.