I’m sure you have noticed the rancorous public debate about the role of government in citizens’ lives? While hardly new, the recent economic recession certainly has changed the tone of the discussion. Many services our communities take for granted, such as local fire protection, have experienced substantial cutbacks, privatization and even elimination in some places.
Providing fire protection long has been considered a principal role of our government, as noted by University of Chicago scholar William J. Novak in his research on 19th-century America. “Fire emerged early as one of the crucial public safety concerns of the young republic,” Novak wrote. “Fire did not merely endanger the people’s health or economy or morality; it threatened their very being, their existence.”
Early community fire protection literally took the form of neighbors helping neighbors. Leather fire buckets stood by the doors of colonial homes, ready to be filled by residents who informally banded together to fight fires, usually with limited success. The next step was essentially a form of private fire protection delivered by independent fire companies to those homeowners who paid for their services. In the historic city of Alexandria, Va., one still can see fire marks on colonial-era buildings that indicate protection from one or another of these companies.
Through the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution and a turbulent 20th century, fire remained a concern for many Americans. After the first decade of the 21st century, the U.S. still leads the world in direct fire losses and fire deaths, according to the World Fire Statistics Centre. Contrary to the perception that fire occurrence is decreasing continually, the number of reported U.S. fire incidents actually increased 1% between 2003 and 2007, and there was an average of 3,685 civilian fire deaths and 17,600 civilian fire injuries during the same period, according to the USFA. Despite these facts, today’s fire departments increasingly are expected to safely, effectively and efficiently address emergencies arising from a wide range of hazards, while continually having to justify their very existence.
The fundamental economic question is whether citizens (taxpayers) collectively are responsible for paying to protect themselves and their neighbors, from the ravages of uncontrolled fires. If they are, then local fire protection should be considered a public good, and funded/resourced as such. The strict economic definition of a public good is a good or service that is non-rival (i.e., consumption by one individual does not reduce availability for another) and non-excludable (i.e., nobody can be excluded from using the good or service).
In some communities, especially in rural locales, it seems possible to assert that individual property owners are exclusively responsible for protecting their own homes from fire. With wide separations between properties, a fire in one structure may not threaten adjacent property owners. Speaking in pure economic terms, fire protection could be considered a private good.
In jurisdictions with higher population densities, however, structures are more tightly packed and multifamily occupancies are common; a fire in one dwelling unit undoubtedly will affect adjacent units without fire department intervention. Even where sprinklers are present and limit direct fire damage to the unit of origin, fire departments respond to conduct salvage operations that are essential for reducing the impact on adjacent units that otherwise would experience additional losses due to smoke and water damage. In these communities, it seems difficult to assert that effective fire protection is anything but a public good, lest we regress to the methods employed in the colonial era.
Ultimately, whether local fire protection is considered a public or private good in your community will be determined by the public-policy process, with the ultimate decision rendered by elected officials. It’s also important to note that many public-policy decisions are made to address social and ethical considerations beyond economics. To help ensure that informed decisions are made, fire chiefs and labor leaders must become familiar with the basic tenets of economics — and be able to debate the question either way, based on local conditions.
Otherwise, we can all go back home and start filling our fire buckets.
Adam K. Thiel is fire chief for the city of Alexandria, Va. He is a former executive director of the Virginia Department of Fire Programs, deputy fire chief of the Goodyear (Ariz.) Fire Department and career lieutenant with the Fairfax County (Va.) Fire and Rescue Department.
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