The Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. collaborated with New York City-based Ipsos Public Affairs on a comprehensive national survey of nearly 9,500 fire departments or 30% of U.S. fire departments. The survey asked fire officials what core challenges leaders face during the current economic crunch, said Susan Murdy, the insurance company's director of media relations.

Firefighters were able to participate in, "Supporting Safer Communities: A National Fire Service Survey," online between mid February to March 31. The survey was open to any career and volunteer firefighter, regardless of geography, rank or size of their community. About 17,500 firefighters from nearly 9,500 departments participated, and 61% of the participants hold the rank of fire officer, including chief, captain or lieutenant.

"Our original goal was to attract 3,000 individual participants, so when you consider we got nearly 17,500, that's a phenomenal turnout," she said. "I think the results validated some thoughts that we had, like lack of budget and old, outdated equipment."

Murdy said findings were based on data at the department level rather than on all respondents. When multiple firefighters from the same fire service organization responded to the survey, the first individual to respond was selected on behalf of that department.

The survey found the following:

• For 67% of departments, there have been delays in purchasing new equipment.
• For 65% of the departments in the state, there have been delays in replacing equipment.
• For 64%, equipment and resources to handle hazmat incidents do not exist.
• For 67%, adequate training for hazmat incidents does not exist.
• More than half of fire departments have had to increase fund-raising efforts and/or grant-writing because of budget cutbacks.
• Twenty-nine percent do not have adequate extrication equipment needed to safely and quickly remove injured people from a vehicle crash.

Texas fire departments fared well in the survey. Murdy noted that fire departments in the Dallas metro area faced fewer challenges, including fewer delays in replacing equipment (57%), fewer delays in purchasing equipment (56%), and had less need to raise funds and increase grant-writing efforts. In addition, in Texas three-quarters of all fire departments have at least one thermal-imaging camera — considered a critical firefighting tool to identify hot spots and locate injured or sleeping persons in a burning building.

Moreover, the survey found most departments were better-equipped to handle wildfires versus hazmat responses. But overall, departments lack the funds to effectively serve their communities' demand for service, Murdy said. She hopes companies will step in and help fund departments' equipment and training needs.

The insurance company's Heritage Fund, a philanthropic firefighter fund established in 2004, has issued grants to nearly 1,100 fire departments nationwide, totaling $21 million in donations. She said independent insurance agencies that sell Fireman's Fund products are able to direct such grants to support fire stations in their communities.

"We see our role as protecting our customers and a natural partner for us in the fire service, because they do the same thing," she said. "We know through Heritage that fire departments have a lot of needs in terms of equipment and training, so we were interested in sponsoring the study to learn more about the needs of fire departments across the country."

"We really would like to see other private companies step up to the plate and also give grants and charitable contributions to their local fire departments," Murdy said. "We all work and live in the communities served by fire departments and they need our help."