For fire departments, building blazes — catastrophic or not — have become infrequent. Firefighters responded to 487,500 structure fires across the United States in 2013, which means each of the nation’s 30,000 fire departments saw just one every 22 days, on average. And yet, taxpayers are paying more people to staff these departments 24-7. As a result, the amount of money shelled out for local fire services more than doubled from 1987 to 2011, to $44.8 billion, accounting for inflation.
Ok. So your desire is to see everyone at home and called in? That is absurd.
Most firefighters here are paramedics and run medical aids. Depending on which city, medical aids will run 70-90% of their calls. Our county firefighters work 48 hour shifts and on a weekend shift can do 20 calls dependent on which station they’re in. I know. I’m married to a firefighter who worked 34 years before retiring. His back was broken twice and he shattered a knee cap while on the job. He also suffered a concussion and almost lost an eye while running a division for BLM in Montana far from home.
Your idea of what firefighters do is way outdated.