NFPA Does Second ''Needs Assessment'' Study - Firehouse.com News

Here is an interesting article. FYI, Roanoke Fire-EMS follows certain NFPA Standards, but not all of them. They utilize it more as a guideline than anything else. Some departments have adopted some or all of the Standards. This is costly ($) but the benefits can be substantial in the long run. Especially Standards such as 1500 and 1710. Look for a post about the different Standards soon.

NFPA Does Second ''Needs Assessment'' Study - Firehouse.com News:

Since the 2001 survey, the total number of firefighters has increased by 1 percent (1,101,250), the number of career firefighters has increased by 11 percent (294,100) and the number of volunteer firefighters has decreased by 2 percent (807,150). The study shows that more departments' initial complement of personnel still falls short of the minimum of four to launch an interior attack.

Running in conjunction with the second needs assessment was an effort to determine if money from the FIRE Act, or now The Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program, had made any difference in solving department needs problems and resources requested and granted to the same fire departments in 2001-2004. To date about $2.5 billion has gone directly to fire departments in grants for their specific needs. It was determined that "this analysis can only be taken as a rough indicator of the match between needs and resources." But some needs were substantially reduced during this period such as the percentage of departments without enough SCBA to equip a shift, a decline from 36 percent to 28 percent. And the percentage without enough personal protective clothing declined by 32 percent. (Read More)