Was Romney right in saying we need fewer Fire Fighters? See the graphs/data here before yelling at me...

Here are a couple of graphs showing some interesting information regarding firemen (and women).

The first one shows the decrease in the number of fires since 1980 (the RED line and look at the left hand scale) of about 40% and the increase in the number of firefighters (BLUE line and look at the right hand scale) of about 40%.  We have many more firemen fighting fewer fires.

Source: Marginal Revolution

The second graph is pretty self-explanatory.  The left scale shows the number of calls to the fire department  for medical calls (BLUE line), actual fire calls (Solid RED line) and false alarms (dotted RED line). 

Source: Marginal Revolution

In most cities we have firehouses that support BOTH ambulance service and firefighting equipment/trucks.  The trend in the graphs seem to show we need fewer, expensive full service firehouses and more ambulance based houses with less capital requirements (trucks, etc) that would be less expensive. 

Having said this, I LOVE MY FIRE DEPARTMENT!! :)