According to the new US Fire Department Profile report from NFPA, there were approximately 1,041,200 career and volunteer firefighters in the US in 2020. Each year, NFPA provides an overview of fire departments in the United States with analysis including firefighters, fire departments, apparatus, and stations. The results are based on data collected by two NFPA annual surveys, the US fire experience survey, and the fire service inventory survey. This total is down 4% from the previous year and is the lowest total since 1991.  A decrease of volunteer firefighters played a role in this trend. There were 364,300 career firefighters in 2020, representing an increase of 2% from the previous year. In addition, there were 676,900 volunteer firefighters, a decrease of 6% from the previous year, and the lowest number of volunteer firefighters reported over the years. In 2020 there were 89,600 female firefighters—17,200 career and 72,400 volunteer. There are an estimated 29,452 fire departments in the United States, with the majority (82%) of the fire departments being all or mostly volunteer. These are the departments that protected almost one third of the US population.  Fire departments categorised as all-career or mostly career represent one-sixth (18%) of all the fire departments in the US and protect more than two-thirds of the US population. The estimates of the number of apparatus and fire stations in the US during 2018–2020 indicate that there were 68,800 pumpers; 7,400 aerial apparatuses; 76,300 other suppression vehicles (e.g., pumpers less than 1,000 gpm, brush vehicles, tankers); 48,800 other vehicles (e.g., rescue, lighting, and ambulance vehicles); and 54,600 stations. Nationwide, 37% of fire departments provided no emergency medical services, 46% provided basic life support (BLS), and 17 percent provided advanced life support (ALS). To read more news and exclusive features see our latest issue here. Never miss a story… Follow us on:  International Fire Buyer @Firebuyer Fire Buyer Media Contact Louis Curtis Editor, International Fire Buyer Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 922 Email: editor@firebuyer.com

New data has revealed that a practice which allows fire service bosses to halt pension contributions and receive tax-free payments has been used in 13 fire and rescue services, despite the government having formally discouraged the practice in England. The Fire Brigade’s Union explained that this involves predominantly senior fire officers retiring and then being re-appointed into the same or a similar post, in arrangement with their employer. It allows them to access a quarter of their pension pot as a tax-free lump sum and then return to post and cease paying employee pension contributions.  The employing fire and rescue authority also ceases to pay pension contributions. The 13 services include London, the biggest wholetime fire service in the UK, where five high level ranking officers including the Commissioner have retired then been re-engaged in the service. Some of these occurrences of retire and rehire may have taken place before the government’s formal discouragement. The data comes from Freedom of Information requests made by the Fire Brigades Union. Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said: “It is outrageous that bosses in fire and rescue services are being allowed to rob taxpayers in this way. It’s deeply unfair and unjust, that bosses on six figure salaries are making cosy agreements that the firefighters they preside over could never hope for. “FBU members will be furious that this is continuing despite the government formally saying it shouldn’t. FBU members have suffered pay restraint for over a decade, with chief officers standing idly by and doing nothing to demand better for their employees. That bosses have been able to play the system to make themselves even richer when ordinary workers are struggling to make ends meet is truly abhorrent.” The fire and rescue services that reported that the practice is being or has been used are: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, East Sussex, Humberside, Lancashire, London, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, South Yorkshire, West Sussex and West Yorkshire The government, in the 2018 Fire and rescue national framework for England following a consultation, formally discouraged this practice and affirmed that it should be utilised only in “exceptional circumstances when such a decision is necessary in the interests of public safety”. To read more news and exclusive features see our latest issue here. Never miss a story… Follow us on:  International Fire Buyer @Firebuyer Fire Buyer Media Contact Louis Curtis Editor, International Fire Buyer Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 922 Email: editor@firebuyer.com