Fire Department Funding

The Fire Service will be undergoing a transformation in the next few years that will impact every single fire department in the U.S. These issues will separate the survivors from the perished.

Issue #1: People will be a lot more expensive.

It doesn't matter if you are a paid, volunteer, or combination department. The costs of having fire fighters will be increasing at an alarming rate. And it isn't just payroll, it is the total expense of having people fight your fires.

The four trends for the higher costs are:

Payroll. If you pay your fire fighters, the cost of paying their salary will be increasing. Add to that the cost of insurance, workman's comp, and payroll taxes, you have a explosive mixture just waiting to absorb your budget.

Attraction Costs. If you don't pay your fire fighters, you will spend more money finding and attracting volunteer labor. The facts are shocking. In Pennsylvania alone, volunteer fire fighters have declined from 300,000 in the 1970's to about 75,000 today. While the population of the state has increased by almost 100,000 people. So, how do you get new volunteers? The volunteer culture has changed. The time demands of people have changed. What can you do to attract more volunteers? There seems to be no magic bullet out there but it will cost more to find a volunteer and entice them to join your department. Of course, if your fire fighter force falls below safe levels, your costs may increase because you have to hire paid fire fighters.

Training. A brand new fire fighter requires much more training than ever before - just to fight fires. Add to that, specialized training such as confined space, rescue, water rescue, EMT, and other expertise that are being demanded of fire departments today and you get a large investment in your people - even if they are volunteer.

Equipment. Protective gear and equipment is more safe than ever. But that safety comes with an ever increasing price tag. It seems just to provide those who serve to have the safest equipment available. But the cost will be rising to keep your people safe.

The good ol' days of a bunch of guys leaving their jobs to fight fires for their community are long gone. And, along with those days, go the relatively cheap labor costs of having guys who fought fires out of a sense of duty, not because they needed to be enticed in some way - either by getting a paycheck or by other incentives to attract new volunteers.

The historical fire fighting labor business model is gone. No more free labor. So, savvy fire departments will begin to factor in these costs now and deal with them instead of getting slammed by the harsh new realities later on.

This issue will become more and more pressing over the next decade.

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