Good article, but I’d like to offer some of my perspectives.
I think the issue is not that fire services are operating as a business, but when they try to operate as a for-profit business that’s where things can get tricky. It is a constant battle between the finance/city managers versus the needs of the department. I prefer departments operate as a non-profit business.
In my nearly 33 years of fire services (federal, state, public-private partnership and for pro-fit) I’ve noticed the most successful and professional departments are those operating with strong business/management practices.
I think the issue you mention about the Ferguson PD causing issues with the community they serve was not because they were productivity driven, but because their productivity metrics were having a punitive effect on the community. When your productivity is measured by how many citations you issue for grass being too high, speeding 1 mile above the speed limit, jay-walking, etc. that is going to cause issues with the people you serve. I don’t espouse the opposite, which is no citations, I espouse a reasonable balance. The fire services have it a bit easier with the community because we are not there to catch someone in a negative act, but to educate the community, reduce the fire risk and be ready to respond/rescue.
Successful departments measure productivity during non-fire events. They simply cannot wait to show their worth through the fire where they rescue a family in the middle of the night or rare disaster where they rescue 100 people from a flooded area. These events are what we are here for, but are too rare to show value on a regular basis.
Having assessed/audited US and foreign departments utilizing professional performance indicators the common theme I’ve noticed is successful departments are using quantitative and qualitative metrics to measure their productivity, i.e, how many fire inspections have been conducted, how many and what types of deficiencies have been identified, how many deficiencies are yet to be corrected, how many training hours are being conducted and in what subjects, how many vehicle and equipment defects we are finding and how do we prioritize the fixes with the limited budget, how many firefighter injuries have been reduced with the implementation of new procedures or equipment, etc. Successful departments are also heavily involved in community education programs. This is also true for successful businesses.
Successful departments have adopted non-profit business practices. Because we do not produce widgets does not mean we should not be measured. The opposite is true; because we do not produce widgets we have to create positive/meaningful metrics to understand our performance, our strengths and weaknesses. I’ve seen risky/ill-prepared departments because they did not want to measure anything. They wanted the community and leaders to simply take their word that they were ready to respond.
Over the years we’ve all seen waste in the fire services due to poor management practices or decisions not based on historical data. Implementing good business practices helps avoid these issues and actually helps build pride in the department because it provides goals and shows achievement on a recurring basis.