The number of fires has been going down over time, although the number of firefighters haven't. They do have to be close enough to fires, so can't decline as m

The number of fires has been going down over time, although the number of firefighters haven't. They do have to be close enough to fires, so can't decline as much. The overall declines are however good from a quality of human life perspective. US Fire administration stats showing ~20% declines in the last decade: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/ http://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/ Firefighters don't fight fires "Over the past 35 years, the number of fires in the United States has fallen by more than 40% while the number of career firefighters has increased by more than 40%". Shows false alarms, medical calls etc. http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/07/firefighters-dont-fight-fires.html http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/07/fir... British analysis - Explaining the steep decline in the frequency of fires http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/explaining-the-steep-decline-in-the-frequency-of-fires.aspx http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/explaining-the-steep-de...