Key Takeaways
- Fire departments are facing rising operational costs, aging infrastructure, and increased demand for services amid straining budgets and limited resources.
- Workforce shortages, health issues, and evolving shift work models challenge traditional staffing, requiring innovative schedules and firefighter wellness programs.
- Adopting new technologies like drones, robotics, and data analytics can improve efficiency, safety, and community engagement.
The cost of operating a modern fire department is rising at a pace that cities can no longer sustain. Inflation, a shrinking labor pool, increasing employee costs, health and wellness concerns, skyrocketing apparatus prices, ballooning station construction costs, and demand for expanded services are outstripping revenue growth. Meanwhile, tax caps, voter resistance, and competing demands from other departments constrain cities. What was once a proud system of growth and innovation is now stretched to a breaking point.
Shrinking revenues
Inflation has hit municipalities hard. The cost of doing business rises while laws like California’s Prop 13, Colorado’s TABOR, and Texas’ SB2 rollback limit the ability to raise revenue. These measures barely let cities maintain existing services when inflation is considered. Unfunded mandates pile on, and “doing more with less” ultimately becomes “doing less with less.”
The result is delayed hiring, deferred station maintenance, and equipment kept far beyond its safe or useful life. Morale suffers, engagement drops, and communities face unsafe conditions as firefighters work with fewer resources and greater risk.
Shrinking labor pool
The fire service faces a paradox. Once, hundreds competed for every opening and now agencies struggle to fill positions. Gen Z—the new workforce—seeks flexibility, wellness, and purpose. Yet the fire service lags in technology adoption, schedule options, and mental health support.
Departments are raising pay and offering bonuses, but with personnel costs consuming 70-90 percent of budgets, this is unsustainable. At the same time, NFPA standards still require large crews for fires, even though fire calls have declined. A house fire still needs 16 firefighters while a commercial fire needs 27. That hasn’t changed.
The labor shortage is not just about hiring—it’s about aligning culture, wellness, and purpose with modern expectations. Without adaptation, recruitment will continue to falter, and costs will keep climbing.
Rising employee costs
Cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mental health conditions affect firefighters at rates far above the general population. Many of us have lost colleagues to these hidden dangers. Workers’ compensation costs rise as claims grow. Cities shoulder long-term healthcare and liability costs for every firefighter hired.
This creates a painful dilemma: more firefighters are needed to meet demand, yet each one adds a heavier financial and health burden. The cycle is costly not just in dollars, but in lives and wellness.
The shift work evolution
The fire service has always evolved around shifts. The two-platoon system of the early 1900s gave way to the three-platoon system in the 1960s. Now, the 24/72 four-platoon model is gaining traction. The health benefits are real, but so are the costs: up to 33 percent more staffing, expanded stations, more gear, and higher personnel costs.
Politically, it’s a hard sell. Taxpayers struggle to understand why firefighters would work fewer hours while earning the same or more. Yet, overtime and callback costs rise. Without sustainable funding and infrastructure, this model risks further straining already stressed systems.
Increasing demand for services
Annual call volumes are growing 5-7 percent in many areas, often outpacing population growth. While fire calls decline, EMS, mental health, and non-fire emergencies surge. Firefighters are expected to be paramedics, rescue technicans, hazmat specialists, and mental health responders—all while staffing remains flat.
The fire service has become society’s safety net. Yet new programs like community paramedicine often stall due to lack of funding. The result is burnout, turnover, and rising costs, a cycle that feeds instability.
Capital expenditures
Apparatus costs are exploding. Engines now exceed $1.5 million, aerials cost $2 million, and ambulances near $500,000. Maintenance can rival purchase costs over their lifespan. Firefighter PPE exceeds $15,000 per set, and firefighters need at least two sets. Over a career, one firefighter may require $90,000 in tunrout gear alone.
Stations are also more expensive. Modern designs include clean zones, training spaces, and community features. Construction costs reach $500 to 1,200 per square foot, with projects topping $20 million. These are not luxuries, they are essential for readiness, health and safety. Yet, outdated funding models leave departments patching holes and stretching every dollar.
The Los Angeles wildfires of 2025 were a stark warning: underfunded apparatus replacement plans left key units sidelined when they were most needed. Capital neglect doesn’t just create inefficiency—it costs lives and property.
The path forward
The fire service cannot survive on outdated funding and models. Sustainability requires innovation, smarter service delivery, modern staffing, new technology, data-driven decisions, and diversified funding.
Innovation culture
Departments must embed innovation into their DNA. Appoint innovation officers, encourage experimentation, and reward creativity—even failures. Diversity of thought must be leveraged to solve tomorrow’s complex problems.
Smarter service delivery
We cannot keep sending million-dollar engines to low-acuity calls. Smaller, lighter rescue units provide flexible, cost-effective solutions. Departments like Henrico County use maintenance-to-acquisition plans to retire high-cost apparatus early while extending reliable units. Modernized replacement strategies save money and improve reliability.
Staffing Models
The 24/48 schedule is taking a toll. Research shows sleep deprivation, poor decision-making, and mental health stress. Hybrid schedules, expanded vacation, PTO models, or creative compromises like Charleston’s 1-3-2-3 schedule offer alternatives. Even if departments cannot afford a fourth platoon, they can offer more recovery time to reduce burnout and improve retention.
Technology and data
Technology is reshaping the fire service. Drones arrive first on scene, providing real-time intel. Robotics assist in suppression and rescue. Wearables monitor firefighter health. AI forecasts demand, optimizes deployment, and improves outcomes.
The fire service collects meaningful KPIs—turnout times, unit-hour utitlization , cardiac survival rates, call trends—but often fails to use them. Data must be harnessed to justify budgets, optimize deployment, and build public trust. Numbers tell the story, but leadership must act on them.
Funding and partnerships
As tax caps squeeze cities, new funding models are critical. Partnerships with universities, insurers, and tech firms can bring innovation and resources. Cost recovery, impact fees, subscription services, and dedicated state/federal funding streams can supplement shrinking property tax revenues.
Community risk reduction
The most cost-effective emergency is the one prevented. Community risk reduction (CRR) programs—smoke alarm campaigns, fall prevention, CPR outreach—save lives, cut call volume, and reduce firefighter exposure to carcinogens. Prevention must move from optional to essential.
Shaping tomorrow
If the fire service fails to adapt, the consequences will be slower responses, degraded service, preventable deaths, and loss of trust. To remain viable, we must reframe our mission, tell our story differently, and prove our value in terms of health, safety, and resilience.
This requires:
- Leveraging data to connect budgets to outcomes.
- Investing in technology to drive efficiency and safety.
- Supporting our people through wellness, training, and leadership.
- Engaging communities with prevention and partnerships.
This is not about doing more with less—it’s about doing smarter with what we have, while building a sustainable foundation for the future.
About the Author
Scott Roseberry
Scott Roseberry is a battalion chief with the Garland, TX, Fire Department who has more than 25 years of experience in the fire service. He has a bachelor’s degree in emergency management and a master’s degree in public administration. Roseberry holds the designations of Executive Fire Officer, Certified Public Manager, Chief Fire Officer, Fire Service Chief Executive Officer and Chief Fire Executive. He is the chairperson of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Technology Council and a member of the FEMA Region 6 Regional Advisory Council and serves on the Department of Homeland Security First Responder Resource Group. Roseberry is a frequent presenter at the IAFC’s Fire-Rescue International and Technology Summit International. He has commanded many multi-alarm assignments, including a devastating EF-4 tornado response.
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