Lets privatize fire departments. There is no quicker and more accurate evidence of the value of anything or anyone than the market. My guess is that the average firefighter would earn $50K per year with a nice 3% employer match 401K and a decent but reasonably priced insurance. Total package around $62K. Retire whenever they want.

Steve, if you are so enamored with the work of volunteers, why don’t you give up your salary and write for your blog for free? I’m sure PRI can use the money on some more slanted right-wing research.

First, firefighting is not like accounting. You must be fit, you must be well trained and well-studied, and there must (by public policy and various Supreme Court decisions) be a good deal of non-White firefighters (see New Haven, Vulcan, etc). Only the most fit, most intelligent, and most well trained can become firefighters, add in the requirement to have significant amounts Black and Hispanic firefighters and you get a very small pool of potential people who can be firefighters. For example, almost all women are disqualified, the physical demands of humping a 170 lb person on their back (or that much equipment) means nearly all women physically cannot do the job. So if thousands apply, only a dozen might be even minimally qualified.

So California, a high cost state, will pay one way or another, the highest market rate for firefighters. Who must have EMT certification (not cheap), know how to respond to all sorts of complex fires (chemical, electrical, industrial, etc.) Joe Volunteer firefighter won’t respond to fires at LAX, or SFO, or a warehouse filled with chemicals at the City of Industry. Joe Volunteer firefighter won’t likely have EMT training, can’t do CPR on you, or crack open your car on the 110 freeway at 2 AM and give lifesaving aid with complex equipment and medical devices on-scene.

So let’s be realistic here.

Thirdly, modern professional firefighters face significant risks that justify huge pensions. They must retire fairly early due to the physical demands of the job (by their mid fifties at the latest). They have a short work life, and starting a new career at age 55 is not going to be in the cards, realistically. If you want a professional, trained firefighter able to handle complex equipment like the jaws of life, or respond to toxic chemical fires likely to give them cancer, you must pay out one way or another, the skill and the assumption of risk firefighters take on in exchange for pay. As well as the short working career, real risk of dying in a fire, and enhanced early death from cancer.

Pay out now, in hideously expensive salaries, with no real pensions, or defer the spending till retirement. Either way you will pay, as a tax payer. Firemen don’t come cheap.

The idea that volunteers can replace paid firefighters is a laugh riot. Most urban and suburban areas would totally bereft of fire and EMT coverage. Volunteers in South Central or East LA? Please. That in and of itself is a disparate impact lawsuit like Serrano v. Priest, with any State of Federal Judge finding against the State (volunteers will only occur in wealthy, White, and semi-rural areas).

Bottom line: if you want someone able to rip apart your car (but not your legs) with the Jaws of life early in the morning after a freeway crash, you WILL PAY FOR IT. Nothing is for free.

You can see the New Haven Firefighter’s Test Here at the NYT

Can you answer the following (from the test):

Which one of the following portable power saw blades must be put out of service?

A) A carbide tip blade missing nine tips.
B) A carbide tip blade with three broken tips.
C) An aluminum oxide blade measuring 12 inches.
D) A yellow silicon carbide blade measuring nine inches.

Bottom line: if you want quality work done, you’ll pay for it. The Workman is worthy of his hire. Going cheap will always cost you.