An extensive investigative report published by The Boston Globe in January found that “once a day on average in the United States, someone dies because firefighters arrive at fires too late” — and when they do arrive, they're often short-staffed and under-equipped. The death toll includes firefighters.

The report, “Deadly Delays: The Decline of Fire Response,” focused on fire department response times. It found only 35% of the nation's fire departments meet the industry-accepted standard set by NFPA 1710 and 1720. The newspaper researched fire department response times and their costs using data reported in the National Fire Incident Reporting System, calculating “on-time” response rates to 3.3 million building fires reported by approximately 20,000 fire departments that voluntarily reported to NFIRS.

In 2002, the last year for which data is available, only about half of the local fire departments in Massachusetts — 54% — met “the fire industry goal” of arrival within 6 minutes of the first alarm at 90% of building fires. Across the nation, only 35% of departments met the response time goal.

“The national picture is somewhat brighter when only departments with full-time as opposed to volunteer firefighters are considered. Still, only 58% of such departments consistently met the standard. And that on-time performance has worsened steadily from 75% in 1986, when alarm times began to be reported,” said the Globe's report.

“Big-city fire departments, such as Boston's, are generally well-staffed and respond to fires swiftly and in force. Outside the cities, it is another story. With fire departments receiving a steadily shrinking share of municipal budgets, fire stations in many communities, here and across the country, are shutting down. Fire engines often roll with only one or two firefighters on board.”

The ultimate cost for understaffing and slowing response times is also paid in lives and property loss.

The newspaper looked into federal investigative reports on firefighters who died in structure fires from 1997-2004, excluding deaths from wildfires, motor vehicle accidents, heart attacks and other causes not directly involving a structure fire. The Globe found that out of 52 fires that killed 80 firefighters in only 35 could the department get even one firefighter to the scene within 6 minutes; in only 27 of the fires could four firefighters muster within 6 minutes; and in only in 18 of the fires did the recommended force of 15 firefighters arrive within 10 minutes, the staffing standard for safe and effective work at a basic building fire.

As response times lengthen, property damage escalates. Using the national database, which provides estimates of fire losses, the Globe calculated these averages for property damage in house fires: $27,000 when firefighters arrive in 3 minutes or less; at 5 minutes, $34,000; at 7 minutes, $41,000; at 9 minutes or longer, $61,000.

The Globe estimated that if the 6-minute standard had been reached, about $1 billion a year in losses from house fires nationally could have been prevented.

For more details from the report, including data in Excel spreadsheets and Adobe Acrobat, see www.boston.com/fires.