Fires have become much rarer, there are too many firefighters. Which is why you see them responding to medical emergencies. Like all organizations, they fight downsizing.

City records show that major fires are becoming vanishingly rare. In 1975, there were 417 of them. Last year, there were 40. That’s a decline of more than 90%. A city that was once a tinderbox of wooden houses has become a much less vulnerable place.

The number of professional firefighters in Boston has dropped only slightly, from around 1600 in the 1980s to just over 1400 today

2014-06-27: Can Fire Stations do health duties?

A new firehouse clinic in California shows how an abundant but under-used public resource—fire stations—can be made even more useful for a community.

We have too many firefighters now due to improved building codes, but like any organization, they resist being shrunk to the correct size. That’s why you often see 3 trucks being dispatched to save a kitten.

2022-10-06: Why do Fire Departments still exist?

According to the 2021 statistics of the FDNY, they attended 1213750 incidents. That’s a lot of fires. But when you take those incidents apart, it emerges that ‘Fire Incidents’ make up less than 25% of calls. Even then, the 290643 ‘Fire Incidents’ cover things from actual fires to malicious false calls, with structural fires being 10639 – the vast majority are more medical incidents. In much of America, the fire departments often take up the role that ambulance services would in Europe. 65% of ambulances in New York are run by the fire department, with the remainder from hospitals.