There are three huge financial issues affecting fire departments, as follows.

Squeezed budgets. Revenues will be falling, or at best stable, while expenses will continue to rise. Growth in traditional revenues will be limited due to economic constraints, changes in taxpayer, fundraising and donation attitudes, and reduced grant funding. At the same time, the major expenses of personnel, apparatus and equipment, and insurance will continue to grow faster than inflation.

Increased financial scrutiny. In this economic environment, more people will be asking more questions about how much money is needed, why it's spent the way it is and whether less money can be spent. It won't matter if the department is the largest municipal department or the smallest volunteer department. Financial stakeholders such as municipal finance departments and councils, grant providers, and donors will demand more financial transparency going forward.

More innovation and flexibility. Management skills will be stretched. The onus on fire chiefs will be to do more with less. That will force changes to traditional thinking about how departments operate. This in turn will affect every aspect of a department, from staffing levels to how a new truck is designed and purchased. It also will mean consolidation among fire departments to gain efficiencies of scale — there will be far fewer, yet larger fire departments in the future.

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Return to the 2010 Decade Forecast: Sighs of the Times main page.

Or jump to another 2010 Decade Forecast perspective:

• Cultural Barriers
  By Kelvin Cochran, U.S. Fire Administrator
• Booming Woes
  By Denis Onieal, Superintendent, National Fire Academy
• Emerging Economy
  By Rob Brown, Chief, Stafford County (Va.) Fire Department
• Volunteer Issues
  By Philip Stittleburg, Chief, LaFarge (Wis.) Fire Department, and Chairman, NVFC
• Apparatus Advances
  By Peter Darley, President, FAMA, and Chief Operating Officer and Vice President, Darley Co.
• Expanded EMS
  By Gary Ludwig, Deputy Chief, Memphis (Tenn.) Fire Department, and Chairman, IAFC EMS Section
• Federal Deficits
  By Bill Webb, Executive Director, CFSI
• Safety First
  By Rob McLeod, Deputy Chief, Chandler (Ariz.) Fire Department, and Chairman, FDSOA
• Creative City Managers
  By Bill Wolpin, Associate Publisher/Editorial Director, American City & County magazine
• Renewed Hope
  By Meri-K Appy, President, Home Safety Council
• Budget Efficiencies
  By John R. Hill, President, Envizion Financial