naturally, this made me interested in the history of fire departments!
In 1666, the Great Fire of London consumed about two square miles of the city, leaving tens of thousands homeless. In response, insurance companies formed private fire brigades - the first organized fire protection system in that city - to protect their clients' property. Insurance brigades would only fight fires at buildings the company insured.
...The first fire brigades in the modern sense were created in France... In 1733, the French government decided that the interventions of the fire brigades would be free of charge. This was decided because people always waited until the last moment to call the fire brigades to avoid paying the fee, and it was often too late to stop fires.
...Even after the formation of paid fire companies in the United States, there were disagreements and often fights over territory. New York City companies were famous for sending runners out to fires with a large barrel to cover the hydrant closest to the fire in advance of the engines. Often fights would break out between the runners and the responding fire companies for the right to fight the fire and receive the insurance money that would be paid to the company that fought it.
this history is still disputed. nobody likes to think that monetary motivations could make somebody stand by and watch while a house burned, do they? everybody knows that a fire is a public - shared - calamity, right? if your house starts burning, then everyone's house is at risk, correct? this is why we pay taxes that support the fire department, yes? so that the fire department will serve all citizens without prejudice.
(a) In addition to all other ad valorem taxes levied, the St. Clair County [Alabama] Commission may levy on an annual basis, commencing with the tax year beginning October 1, 1997, an ad valorem tax on all taxable property located in St. Clair County at a rate of two mills per dollar of assessed value of the taxable property, the proceeds of which shall be paid into an expendable fire protection trust fund.
...(b) Within 30 days of payment into the fire protection trust fund of the proceeds from the additional tax levied pursuant to (a), each eligible fire department in the county shall make a requisition to the county commission for a share of the tax proceeds in the fund. The county commission shall divide the funds equally among the eligible fire departments of St. Clair County.
(c) Funds allocated to eligible fire departments shall only be expended for fire protection and emergency medical services... Personnel of eligible fire departments shall not be considered as employees, servants, or agents of the county.
it wasn't always this way, of course.
Fire insurance marks were lead or copper plaques embossed with the sign of the insurance company, and placed on the front of the insured building as a guide to the insurance company's fire brigade... The early fire marks of Benjamin Franklin's time can still be seen on some Philadelphia buildings as well as in other older American cities.
Subscribers paid fire fighting companies in advance for fire protection and in exchange would receive a fire mark to attach to their building. The payments for the fire marks supported the fire fighting companies. If the protected building were to suffer a fire only their fire fighting company would attend the call to extinguish the fire. Even if competitor fire companies were closer to the fire they would not do anything to prevent further damage or extinguish the fire.
firemark of the salop insurance co.
like i said, this history is still disputed. but it raises the question - how was fire - a local calamity - understood at that time? who was responsible for preventing, fighting, and cleaning up after a fire? have our ideas about private responsibility and the public good changed since then? if your neighbor smokes in bed and sets himself afire, what do you do? is it your problem, or not? if you don't do anything, is that against the law? why or why not? should it be, or not?
triangle shirtwaist fire.
12/10/2007 - A decline in public funding for firefighting services has sparked explosive growth in the private sector. The world's largest insurance company – American Insurance Group – now has "Wildfire Protection Units" in 150 US zip codes. During the 2007 California wildfires, AIG's firefighters saved homes in wealthy areas, while less fortunate neighbors were left with rubble.
sometimes maybe a fire department is underfunded, and people don't trust that they will be protected... so they decide that the solution is to hire their own private fire service? what's wrong with this picture?
AIG's Wildfire Protection Unit, part of its Private Client Group, is offered only to homeowners in California's most affluent ZIP Codes -- including Malibu, Beverly Hills, Newport Beach and Menlo Park -- and a dozen Colorado resort communities. It covers about 2,000 policyholders, who pay premiums of at least $10,000 a year and own homes with a value of at least $1 million.
how does our view of public calamity change, when the example is set before us of independent-minded, self-reliant, yankee can-do individualists who have the gumption to hire their own firefighters? the right to do whatever you please with your own property is a fundamental american value; so is the right to do whatever you can think of to make a buck.
...[Homeowner] Mr. LaPeter, who owns shopping centers and splits his time between Idaho and Maui, said the service might be a security blanket for the rich, but that it was also good business... [Fire protection Contractor] Mr. Futral weighed in. "Save one $10 million house and it pencils out pretty quickly," he said. "And there are a lot of nice homes here - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood." He stopped short of saying whose houses he had sprayed... [Homeowner] Michel Lalanne, who splits his time between Sun Valley and France, watched Mr. Futral apply retardant to a house across the street and asked whether he might obtain his services for a price, even though he was not covered by AIG Private Client Group. "He said, 'No,'" Mr. Lalanne said. "'We've got a long list.'"
private entitlements and public calamities. a firefighter corporation, based on an insurance model, that makes megaprofits, charging whatever frightened people will pay, and only putting out certain fires.
compare that to a publicly funded system of firefighter companies, whose members earn approximately the median US income - a good living - putting out whatever fires they're dispatched to.
sound familiar?
note: a frequent argument against the firefighter analogy is that there is no single-payer system; localities fund their own services. some might point out the obvious problem with this, that a lot of communities are obliged to have volunteer services only. it's hard to argue that that is the best system we can come up with.
May, 2009 - Fifty-seven percent of all volunteer departments (which comprise over 70 percent of all U.S. fire departments) are losing volunteers who need to look for other jobs.
in the meantime, while rome burns, i guess it'll be high-deductible, catastrophic-coverage-only health insurance for me and my family - whatever i can get and/or afford.
