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Part‐time fire fighters in Canadian municipalities: cost and effectiveness comparisons
Author(s) -
McDavid James C.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-7121.1986.tb00815.x
Subject(s) - fire fighter , service (business) , population , fire protection , full time , business , engineering , medicine , environmental health , marketing , economic growth , civil engineering , economics
This article reports findings from a cross‐Canada study of municipal fire departments. Data gathered from a survey of 104 fire departments in 1981 and 1982 indicate that the use of part‐time fire fighters in Canadian cities over 10,000 population is widespread. Overall, municipalities that rely on mixed full‐time and part‐time fire departments or on all‐volunteer departments enjoy substantial cost savings. Further, when fire department effectiveness is compared among full‐time, mixed and all‐volunteer departments, full‐time and mixed departments are about equally effective. Fire departments employing a mix of full‐time and part‐time fire fighters, particularly in communities up to 50,000 residents, enjoy the benefits of lower fire service costs without sacrificing effectiveness.