How much is each additional Firefighter on an Engine worth?

[FF402 133]

 

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A single firefighter may cost $120,000 in total costs, but saves the community over a half million from fire loss.

Imagine you have two cities, side by side with similar population size, population density, square mileage, and near identical fire departments. The only difference is fire department “A” staffs three people per engine and “B” staffs two people per engine. Could one quantify the added value or cost of the third firefighter on department “A’s” engines? And if so what would the number be?

 

https://medium.com/@esaylors/how-much-is-each-addition-firefighter-on-an-engine-worth-about-600-000-d5efa5af0cda

[houlidsa 76]

Or using the same information you can deduce that one Truck company can add almost as much vale as two Engine companies, just saying....

 

[8]Department A has 36 employees; three 3 person engines and one 4 person truck while department B 18 employees; three 2 person engines.

[dwcfireman 656]

The value saved falls back on the effectiveness of larger crew sizes.  NIST published their findings in 2010 that 3 FF crews completed tasks 25% faster than 2 FF crews, and 4 FF crews were 30% faster.

 

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WASHINGTON D.C.—A landmark study issued today by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows that the size of firefighting crews has a substantial effect on the fire service's ability to protect lives and property in residential fires.

Performed by a broad coalition in the scientific, firefighting and public-safety communities, the study found that four-person firefighting crews were able to complete 22 essential firefighting and rescue tasks in a typical residential structure 30 percent faster than two-person crews and 25 percent faster than three-person crews.

Source: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2010/04/landmark-residential-fire-study-shows-how-crew-sizes-and-arrival-times

 

Adding moire firefighters to the assignment means tasks are being done faster, safer, and more efficiently; So it makes sense that there is going to be more savings from damage/loss.