Private emergency service

This page attempts to list some privately run emergency services.

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

In 1789, a ship foundered in a storm in the mouth of the river Tyne. Spectators on shore watched in horror as crewmen fell into the sea and drowned; no one was able to rescue them. Moved by the tragedy, local philanthropists offered a two-guinea prize for a lifeboat designed to withstand heavy seas. Several inventors came forth with ideas, and the result was a long rowboat pointed at both ends and buoyed by 700 pounds of cork. One by one, local life-boat stations were established along the coast.

In 1823, Sir William Hillary, himself a lifeboatman on the Isle of Man with 305 rescues to his credit, wrote an "Appeal to the Nation" calling for the establishment of a national lifeboat organization supported by voluntary subscriptions. London merchants took up the idea and organized the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1824. The RNLI eventually set up stations all around the British Isles, including Ireland and Northern Ireland.

In 2011, their volunteer lifeboat crews launched 8,905 times and rescued 7,976 people around the coasts of the UK and RoI. The lifeguards, patrolling 163 beaches in the UK and Channel Islands, attended 15,625 incidents and carried out over 2 million preventative actions. The RNLI was called upon to rescue an average of 32 people every day. 139,832 lives have been saved since 1824. The Institution had 342 lifeboats assigned to 235 lifeboat stations in the British Isles.

But running the lifeboats and paying the thousands of rescue workers does not cost British taxpayers a penny. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a private organization, supported, as it proudly says on its letterhead, "entirely by voluntary contributions" and managed by its own trustees and staff.

Since the 1890s, left-wing activists have pushed to have the RNLI nationalized on the ground that the state ought to run all public services. These campaigns always founder since the RNLI beats government emergency services hands down. Its naval architects and managers have designed and built a fleet of rescue boats that are the most advanced in the world (when they are retired at their British stations, the secondhand boats are purchased by coast- guard agencies of other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and Uruguay). The RNLI's voluntary income (£172 million in 2011) easily covers its costs (estimated £150 million), and its reserve fund of £579 million could keep the service going for more than three years. Compare this financial picture to the fiscally strapped government, which frequently curtails state services such as hospitals and libraries for lack of funds.

Then there is the advantage of volunteers, who cost less than full-time government staff and are more dedicated to serving the public. In most of Britain's government-run emergency services, employees have formed unions that go on strike, interrupting the vital services of ambulances, fire brigades, and hospitals. A strike at the RNLI is hard to imagine. Unlike a government agency, a voluntary group like the RNLI cannot force people to pay for its services. It appeals to the public's generosity, and it can do so only by behaving in a generous way itself. A strike by the RNLI would destroy the public good will on which it depends. The crew members are paid only a small ($11) stipend on the days they go out. Their example inspires the paid mechanics and other staff members, who would never think of letting the public down by a deliberate act of disruption.

Firefighters

In the US, there are hundreds of small private fire companies along with seven industry leaders in 14 states, according to Private Sector Fire Association statistics.

Scottsdale, Arizona uses the Rural/Metro Corporation and Scottsdale voters prefer Rural/Metro to the option of a municipally owned fire department. Mayor Herbert R. Drinkwater says that because of Rural/Metro, Scottsdale citizens benefit from a superior level of fire service at a considerably lower cost than if the city had a municipal fire department.

An increasing number of established departments are emulating Rural/Metro’s subscription services in remote areas. Rural/Metro created the concept of providing fire protection to areas that might otherwise have difficulty obtaining any fire or emergency medical service at all—communities without the tax base to subsidize fire departments. It currently services communities in Arizona, Tennessee, and Oregon on a subscription basis.

The subscription process is voluntary. The company contracts with home and property owners in subscription areas, who pay annual fees for fire protection and emergency medical service, level of service is based on population density and geography. The company is the first-responder agency in these locales. A non-subscriber must pay a fairly high hourly rate per fire-fighting unit if it is necessary for Rural/Metro to respond to a fire at that person’s residence or property.

The company focuses on prevention, but it also tailors of services to each area’s needs. For instance, poisonous desert reptiles are removed from members’ homes or properties, at no extra charge. If water pipes burst, Rural/Metro subscription customers know the company will shut off utilities and remove excess water from their homes as a matter of routine, at no additional cost.