Predicting the future of our noble profession is both challenging and an opportunity to start a broad, kitchen table or perhaps a national dialogue among tomorrow’s fire service leaders. So, what does the future hold for the women and men that answer the fire bell? How can individual members shape or at least influence our direction? Will the changing direction be a benefit or a bust? All will be revealed to us in good time. If you don’t like the way things are, just stay put for a little while and watch us evolve at a pace never experienced before the social media and Internet communications revolution.
This is the first installment of several that attempt to look at the near and midrange future of the fire service. These writings should be a provocative platform for more discussion on the future of the fire service and how we can work toward shaping the changes for a better future.
The Old Becomes New: Fire Apparatus and Ambulances
The current generation of fire chiefs are witnessing, with seemingly little reaction, an epic fire apparatus and ambulance crisis unfolding without much pushback. Some manufacturers will only provide a build timeframe window of delivery, most seem to say between three to five years to deliver the most basic elements of community fire and emergency protection.
The cost hikes and spikes make municipal budgeting very difficult to impossible to manage. Replacement parts are not readily available to make the needed repairs to keep Big Red on watch for the community.
Perhaps the future holds three distinct fire truck assembly lines. One for urban cities and a second line for suburban/rural communities with these two assembly lines being standardized fire apparatus with both lines offering very few to no options. Pricing and delivery times could be refined and controlled much better than the current process. The third assembly line can be the “boutique assembly” where everything from custom paint with an unlimited color pallet and as many “custom bells and whistle frills” can be purchased and added to the price and with a varying delivery timeline.
Henry Ford was once quoted in 1922 as saying, “Any color the customer wants, as long as it’s black.” Ford’s comment was in line with paint durability and to control the cost of the finished Model T’s price point to be competitive in the marketplace. Where is Henry Ford when you need him?
There also appears to be a need to go back to the future. Fire apparatus procurement of the 1980s and 1990s focused on rehabilitating and refurbishing fire trucks and ambulances rather than new purchases. Over time, it was realized that the service delivery in hours and miles along with failing reliability did not prove to be a value for the department’s investment.
Given the apparatus shortage situations that are popping up all over the nation, it seems like a great time to be in the refurbished and used fire apparatus and ambulance business. Perhaps in 2025, improvements can be made to the apparatus refurbishing process to make it attractive. I am sure that all parties concerned would not want to return to those days, but maybe it is the future. It seems like a potential viable alternative. Perhaps the old will become new a half of a century later? Once again, only time will tell.
Please be safe out there!
DENNIS L. RUBIN’s fire and rescue experience spans more than 40 years. Rubin has served as a line firefighter/EMT, company officer, staff officer, command officer, and chief of the department in Atlanta, Georgia; Washington, D.C.; and Kansas City, Kansas.
