>Denmark has traditional fire departments paid by the government I think that putting it like this is a bit misleading. So, in about two thirds of Danish munic

>Denmark has traditional fire departments paid by the government I think that putting it like this is a bit misleading. So, in about two thirds of Danish municipalities fire fighting as well as rescue services are outsourced to a private company which is commissioned by the municipal governments. But that is certainly not the classical state-run structure that I suppose most people would be thinking of when they read "traditional fire departments". (Yes, this is arguably traditional in Denmark by now, but I think it is actually more of an exception in the bigger picture of traditional fire fighting.) Where I come from, for example, professional fire fighting services actually are honest-to-god state-run entities. Our overall fire-fighting structures are actually extremely good value for the money. But this really is only possible because a significant part of the actual work is done by voluntary fire fighters, as we have managed to preserve that part of our culture, so far at least. And that is really traditional fire fighting (even in Denmark, if you disregard the last 100 years or so).