Why Are Firefighting Services Usually Provided by the Government and Not by Private Firms?

Why are firefighting services usually provided by the government and not by private firms? First of all, the fire services is a kind of public goods, public goods means the goods that no matter whether the individuals are willing to buy, each member of the whole society can benefit from. It is produced by the public sector or it is a product, provided by the government, that the private are unwilling or unable to manufacture, including international security, police, fire services, roads, education and so on. Typically, the Government is defined as public goods producers, public goods are defined as the production and delivery of government products. The market could do nothing about it. "Public goods" are a non-competitive and non-exclusive items, such as "fire services." There are many kinds of public goods provided by “the private ", such as: the complete supply of the private sector; private and government joint supply; private and community joint supply. However, "fire service" the public goods, provided by the private sector, are exclusive, that is, someone with payment can use, someone without payment canl not be able to enjoy the fire services, which will appear the phenomenon that "see the fire did not save". In order to avoid the tragedy that is "see the fire is not put out ", and to allow all residents to enjoy the "fire service", therefore, "fire service" is usually provided by the Government. That some public goods are provided by private enterprise is feasible, but it is not as effectively as the public. There is one possibility that is providing services to more people has very low marginal costs (that is, the exclusive use of very low) .Taking the examples such as fire services, from the perspective of society, it is necessary to provide services to all area residents, because it will not increase the fire brigade. However, the private fire service must be provided in accordance with the private fire brigade. The families that