News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Could housing be cheaper and better if we stop building so many staircases?. Parent comment

Re:Could housing be cheaper and better if we stop building s... by kube-system on Saturday December 25, 2021 @02:11AM (#29681170)
Response was the first thing that came to mind reading your initial post. I bet you have a full-time fire service close by your building. 70% of the firefighters in the US are volunteers. I can think of several multistory apartment buildings that I know are in volunteer fire department districts off the top of my head. And it’s not like I memorize fire districts.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Could housing be cheaper and better if we stop building s... by bluGill on Saturday December 25, 2021 @06:01AM (#29682229)
Volunteer firefighters live in rural areas and mostly serve farm and shall towns. Every suburb I've lived in has full time firefighters. Most people live in cities and suburbs not rural areas.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Could housing be cheaper and better if we stop building s... by kube-system on Saturday December 25, 2021 @07:42AM (#29682809)
There are about as many people in rural areas with volunteer fire departments as there are people in non-rural areas with volunteer fire departments.

17% of the US lives in a rural area. 32% of the US population is covered by a volunteer fire department. There are plenty of suburbs with VFDs, often lower-income.

https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-too...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Could housing be cheaper and better if we stop building s... by LorenPechtel on Saturday December 25, 2021 @03:06PM (#29686486)
Because volunteers spend so much less of their time actually fighting fire. 70% of firefighters being volunteers doesn't mean anything like 70% of firefighting is done by volunteers.

And don't expect the volunteers to accomplish much--when the alarm goes off they have to go to the firehouse first, and thus will have a bad response time compared to a professional fire service. They're far more about keeping the fire from spreading than actually putting it out.

[ Parent | on HN ]