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A comment on Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn?. Parent comment

Re:Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn? by Arainach on Monday December 19, 2022 @01:09PM (#34055383)
How do you calculate the "full cost" of having staff on call 24/7, well maintained equipment that's regularly inspected, building inspectors to verify that fire code is being met to keep usage down to sustainable levels, and so on? The full cost isn't $10k in salary and gasoline and foam, it's millions.
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Re:Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn? by aaronax on Monday December 19, 2022 @01:20PM (#34055563)
Total cost of running the department for a year, divided by the number of callouts. Possibly weight the callout types depending on approximate resources consumed.

Though I am fully in support of just letting the house burn.

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Re:Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn? by mook on Monday December 19, 2022 @01:31PM (#34055703)
These costs still exist in a hypothetical year with zero fires, though. Additionally, people whose house were just on fire with zero insurance are probably not in a good financial position (anymore), and they are unlikely to be able to pay…
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Re:Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn? by dantheman on Monday December 19, 2022 @01:44PM (#34055877)
If you don't have the money, then a lien is placed on the property and it will be sold to pay the debt. Or you can take out a mortgage to buy it. In any case you'll be richer than if the house is burned down.
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Re:Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn? by s1artibartfast on Monday December 19, 2022 @01:46PM (#34055915)
Ability to pay still not guaranteed, depending on the financial situation. Family can easily have more that's than assets to their name, preventing collection.
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Re:Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn? by Dylan16807 on Monday December 19, 2022 @09:29PM (#34060801)
You can prioritize firefighter debt over other liens.

And it doesn't have to be guaranteed if it works 90% of the time.

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Re:Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn? by s1artibartfast on Monday December 19, 2022 @01:45PM (#34055899)
Your first problem is trivial cuz you can look at a multi-year average.

The second part is more significant in people simply don't have the money to pay.

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Re:Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn? by jefftk on Monday December 19, 2022 @01:35PM (#34055746)
My city spends ~$20M/y on the fire department [1] and has ~300 structure fires and ~14k callouts annually [2]. The cost for a marginal fire is definitely not millions; even if you only divide $20M by 300 you get $70k and that ignores the tens of thousands of other calls they take.

[1] https://stories.opengov.com/somervillema/published/BhSqQ0eG2

[2] https://www.mass.gov/doc/2020-county-profiles/download

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Re:Did Insurance Fire Brigades let uninsured buildings burn? by chordalkeyboard on Monday December 19, 2022 @01:23PM (#34055598)
amortize that cost over the population that is covered; perhaps discount the services utilized by residents who pre-pay and charge a premium for those who pay on the spot.
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