What are some of the problems in the Fire Service?

        Over the years, the firefighting profession has benefited from things such as community support and funding.  In recent years, however; there have also been problems.  These problems were discussed by multiple Fire Chiefs during the Firehouse World convention in San Diego.  Firefighters in today’s world are seen by some as a drain on community finances due to their salaries and pensions.  As John Tripp, Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles City Fire Department, says: “‘People don’t have fires like they used to....Therefore, there’s a perception that we don’t need as many firefighters as we used to’” (Ballum).  Most people don’t realize that firefighters do much more than put out fires.  Public Safety Education and Emergency Medical Services are just a few examples of the other services firefighters provide to communities.  One of the other problems departments face are the abundance of minor calls they are dispatched to.  False alarms and minor medical calls are just a few examples of these calls.  It is a drain on resources and can even delay response times to other, more serious, calls as well as puts the personnel at risk for injury for virtually nothing.  The Los Angeles City Fire Department remedies this problem by running truck that are equipped to provide medical aid, while leaving patient transportation to private EMS companies.  Another problem I touched on in my last section was the threat of cancer in the Fire Service due to smoke inhalation.  All of these things just go to show that while some aspects of firefighting are improving, there are still others at are getting worse.