A recent survey commissioned by the ISO and conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation of Princeton, N.J. highlighted issues challenging the nation's fire service: the foremost being need for more firefighters.
"The survey helps ISO -- along with property/casualty insurance companies and the firefighting community -- gain further insights into key issues in fire departments across the country," Mike Waters, ISO's vice president of Risk Decision Services, said in a statement.
"We hope the results of the study will highlight the critical challenges facing fire chiefs as they manage their limited resources."
The data was complied from responses made by a random sample of 500 chiefs and other ranking fire department officials representing jurisdictions of varying sizes across the U.S. The margin of error is plus or minus four percentage points.
The study also found that close to one in six departments either has no water service or must rely on sources other than hydrants, leading to possible delays.
The reliance on mutual aid was apparent in the survey as 54 percent of fire chiefs surveyed said their departments "always or almost always" call on neighboring departments to respond to the initial alarm for a structure fire.
Another 28 percent reported that they sometimes call on neighboring departments.
Among the chiefs who call on neighboring departments on the first alarm, 74 percent said a very significant reason for doing so is the need for more responders; 29 percent said a need for specialized apparatus or equipment is very significant; and 25 percent cited as very significant the fact that a neighboring fire station is closer to the response area than any station in their own district.
One-third of the chiefs surveyed reported that their response areas have populated sections that are closer to a fire station in a neighboring fire district than to any fire station in their own district.
But of those chiefs, 39 percent said the closer neighboring fire department does not respond on automatic aid.
One bright spot in the study was the presence of interoperability as nearly all of the chiefs surveyed (98 percent) indicated their fire departments can communicate by radio directly with neighboring departments. Most also said they can also communicate directly with local EMS (95 percent) and local police (84 percent).
"This positive finding shows that local interoperability -- the ability to connect emergency responders -- is on the rise," Robert W. Cobb, ISO's director of community hazard mitigation, said in a statement. "We'll continue to track emergency communications as one of the key elements of an effective fire-suppression program."
Recruitment and the ability to train recruits for volunteer and combination departments was another issue revealed in the study. Among the chiefs of volunteer and combination departments, 93 percent said that the biggest challenge surrounding recruitment is the time commitment. The chiefs also cited a small volunteer pool (84 percent) and education and training requirements (83 percent) as key challenges.
The study also raises questions about the adequacy of the water supply in communities across the country. About 4 percent of chiefs said that there is no water service for in their communities, and another 11 percent said they rely on sources of water other than hydrants -- including lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks, wells, tankers as well as other sources.
In communities that have water service for firefighting, only about half the chiefs said hydrants protect "all or almost all" of their primary response areas. In communities with water service, 23 percent of the chiefs said the responsible agency or organization inspects and flow-tests the hydrants less than once a year.
"This survey points out the need to understand the actual situation on the ground when evaluating fire protection at a particular location," Waters said. "It's not enough to know there's a fire station nearby. You also have to know if the station will respond to a possible fire and if there will be enough trained personnel, adequate equipment, and sufficient water for firefighting, among other things."
