Fire budget administration:

Presented to:

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Date:

Introduction

The paper attempts to examine the problem of funding for the department of fire services and other problems caused by the inadequate funding. In addition, the paper attempts to propose solutions to the problem of the inadequate funding. The need for fire services is inevitable especially due to the growing population and expanding industrialization. Therefore, the funding for the fire department is vital to ensure the public the businesses are safe.

Problems caused by low funding

Inadequate personnel

The firefighters are always available to help at any time when there is a fire outbreak in a more of a volunteer ship kind of job. Sadly, they put their lives at risk to help others while they struggle to operate under limited resources due to low funds. The firefighters do more with less to keep families and the society safe from fire, however, they have received little financial help in case they need help too. For instance, the funding for the fire department and their earnings are hardly enough to acquire adequate staffing needed to do the job and protect the community. While the fire department relies mostly on the mutual aid with the companies in case of fire outbreak, there is concern that the department constantly still faces depletion of resources. As such, the problem of inadequate staffing is so imminent that in some cases, there is only one crew operating in a hazardous area during the initial stages of the fire incidence such that there are few individual available for assistance outside the fire zone. As a result, there has been a waste of time when combating the fire outrage when the firefighters get injured, amounting to a major problem in many industrial countries (Blaich 52).

Growing population

The residential and communities are growing at a rate faster than the ability of the fire department can serve their additional needs. Increase in population has led to pressure of emergency call. For instance, the communities are expanding at a faster rate than the absorption capacity of the number of firefighters in the United States. In an anticipated fire event, there are inadequate emergency medical technicians for a particular number of people. Furthermore, there have been more calls at the fire service call centers and EMS, creating pressure on public safety dispatch. As a result, the fire department often hires more individuals every year as the present employees are hardly enough to serve the rising needs of the communities (Pinkowski 28).

Retiree’s benefits

The governments in many countries fail to recognize the danger the firefighters put themselves; consequently, the firefighters typically retire after 20 to 30 years on the job. At the time of retirement, the employees receive little compensations and reliefs, health benefits, contributory money, and little savings due to raise property taxes. There has been a call of tension to firefighter taxpayers as their services are been cut down by the raised taxes as the government proposes to collect revenue for an overall generous retirement benefits package. For example, in United States, there has been a widespread incidence of ‘pension padding’ as the government is reluctant to pay employees for overtime work. However, a quick fix scheme has discouraged the worker and made them turn to other alternative jobs, leading to lower workforce in the fire department (Fleagle 117).

Inadequate firefighting equipment

Another pertinent issue identified to hinder simulation of the effectiveness of the fire company is inadequate facilities for the task. The primary function of the fire company is to response at the scene of a fire within an established response time and with all necessary equipment for truck work, ventilation, search and rescue, aerial operations for rescuing victim drowning in water and medical kits. However, the fire department lacks such facilities especially when responding to a fire incidence in geographically restricted areas since they lack enough money to purchase such facilities (Fleagle 156).

Privatization

The firefighting company has change their public oriented objective to private-for-profit services. Most of the private fire companies’ revenues reflect double-digit gains. Nevertheless, the attribute towards privatization has cast a shadow on the efficiency of the public sector fire departments. For instance, the Bureau of Labor Statistic revealed that the insurance companies are employing the private fire companies for a subscription fee in order to limit the potential damage to their properties in cases of wildfire outbreak since the public fire entities are not adequately funded. Consequently, expansion of the private fire companies has led to suppression charges to homeowners, small business enterprises and public utilities. The fact that the private industry provides a low level of market share concentration leads to a greater outsourcing to the private fire companies, causing government’s budget shortfalls due to the hiked charges (Fleagle 196).

Solutions to the problem of funding of fire departments

The fire department needs to restructure its fire response protocols and as such, there is a need to design a fire-oriented model that includes the overwhelming demand for fire emergency calls. For example, at least one of the crewing monitoring the fire incidence should have medical training for response to medical situations. Comparatively, the firefighting engines costs about five times more than an ambulance. Therefore, consolidating with other privates departments can provide an amicable solution for meeting the cost of purchase of fire equipment and their maintenance. In response to the grand question of salary levels, pensions and retirements, the government should ensure the firefighters are well rewarded and receive good salaries since their job description involves a lot of risks (Pinkowski 223).

Conclusion

The salary cuts on firefighters are an irritation beyond the sacrifice the members make to ensure the safety of the public. While the cities are spending millions of money on luxuries amenities that squeeze public safety and constrain the cities’ budget, there is a need to recognize that there is no recession on the demand for fire services. Therefore, the there is a necessity to fund the fire department and ensure the fire services are available at hand since the department is becoming the first line in someone’s health.

Works cited

Blaich Peter W. The Benefits of Behavioral Research to the Fire Service: Human Behavior in

Fires and Emergencies. Lincoln: iUniverse, 2008. Print.

Fleagle Judy. Around Florence. South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. Print.

Pinkowski Jack. Disaster Management Handbook. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2008. Print.