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How much money is spent yearly for fire fighters equipment globally
Hello, and thank you so much for your question on the annual global market for fire fighter equipment. In short, the annual global spend can be estimated at $40.46 Billion US Dollars.
My deep dive is below.
METHODOLOGY
I began by identifying the specific equipment that firefighters use universally, equipment that I can cost out on a global scale. I researched industry and trade articles, government websites and journals, as well as industry safety organizations including the NFPA and OSHA for the United States. I then looked to International standards for equipment.
The definition for fire fighter's equipment for this market sizing is, "Fire fighting equipment ranges from a fire fighters gear to fitted systems in a building to fire extinguishers and communication equipment of a wide variety." All of the categories are specific to the fire service. I excluded equipment related to EMS, although they are reported to be a large percentage of fire department calls per year.
Total global spend for each category of clothing and equipment as it strictly relates to firefighting is not readily publicly available. The methodology for calculations and links to reports behind paywalls can be found in each category.
FINDINGS
PERSONAL PROTECTION EQUIPMENT (PPE)
PPE covers the gear individually worn on a firefighter to include turnout gear and other protective clothing, breathing apparatus (SCBA), and personal alarm system (PASS). Some firefighting specialties, such as Wildland firefighters, do not typically wear SCBAs, but their PPE is also governed by NFPA standards.
I found one older article (2011) that quotes a price to outfit one volunteer firefighter from helmet to boots at $12,500 per firefighter. This number includes $250.00 for basic training and certifications. Without adding training, the equipment cost is roughly, $12,250.00.
--Turnout Gear and protective clothing standards vary internationally. The global spend of specifically turnout or wild land gear was not publicly available. I did an exhaustive search on the average cost to outfit a firefighter including helmet, gloves, turnout gear, boots, nomex hoods, and other pieces of the standard "uniform." After researching manufacturer sites, industry websites and articles, as well as government , NFPA, and other organizational resources, the average total cost of a single firefighter's gear is not available. With some additional digging, I was able to provide some information on individual components, with links to purchase specific reports.
I found a report on protective materials, generally, including firefighting protective clothing. This report is available for purchase, and breaks down the total percentage of thermal fabrics and firefighter fabrics within the report.
The total global spend on protective clothing materials is $8.008B in 2015, with a CAGR of 3.6%. According to the report, the largest growth area for these materials is in construction and manufacturing protective clothing.
One Volunteer Fire Department website quotes the Bunker Gear cost alone as $6035.00 per member. I am going to go with this number for calculations, because the 2011 report cited above estimated the SCBA alone at $6500.00.
By the numbers: Estimating the number of global firefighters
-EU- a 2011 report estimates 2.7 million firefighters across 27 EU countries. No later data has been found.
A company report by FLIR, a thermal imaging company reports that there are a total of 5 Million global firefighters in 2014..
If we average $6035.00 per firefighter for clothing (which is only to the NFPA/ US standard, from 2011) x 5M worldwide firefighters, we can estimate the global spend for firefighter gear one time at $30.25B for only protective clothing and gear.
--SCBA. The Self Contained Breathing Apparatus must meet the criteria are established by the NFPA, and the latest SCBA standards changes were implemented in 2013. According to an industry market report, SCBA sales account for 40% of the total respiratory protection market.
Global sales were reported at roughly $4.822B in 2014. With a CAGR of 7.7% reported in 2015 (through 2022). To calculate the 2016 total sales of SCBAs, I first calculated 40% of the total market of $4.822B. 4.822B x 0.40= approximately $1.929B (rounded up to the nearest million)
I then calculated the growth of the market by 7.7% per year for 2015 and 2016:
2015: growth of approximately $149M for a total of $2.078B
2016: growth of approximately $160M for a total of $2.238B
The global spend of SCBAs in 2016 can be estimated at $2.238B.
--Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) device. This device is worn or carried, " that enable emergency responders to signal or help if they get lost, disoriented, trapped, injured, or run out of breathing air during emergency operations." This device is also governed by NFPA standards. The average price in 2016 for a PASS device is between $494.00 and $596.00. With the average of the two prices calculated at $545.00.
Taking that $545.00 number x 5M worldwide firefighters, the total spend for a PASS device, one per firefighter, can be estimated as $2.725B.
Taking the numbers for Protective gear ($30.25B) plus the SCBA ($2.238B) plus PASS ($2.725B) we can estimate a total of global Firefighter PPE spend as: $35.255B.
TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT
This section covers hand tools, specialized rescue tools, and specialized application tools. Thermal Imagers, Hand tools (halligan bar, pike poles, etc.) and Rescue Tools (cutters and spreaders, airbags, rope rescue gear) are include. At this time there is no recognized standard for this tools and equipment category. The World Rescue Organization is developing standards for specialized rescue.
After an exhaustive search, I am unable to find firefighter only tools and equipment, except behind a paywall. I found several sources for "kits" and great information for estimating the thermal market. These are back of the envelope calculations to provide these annual global estimations.
--Thermal imaging is reported as $3.1B industry in 2012, with a CAGR of 9.76% between 2013 and 2019. Of this industry, Defense sector held approximately 45% of the total market. Firefighting took a segment of the remaining 55%, shared within the commercial sector or the industrial sector. If the firefighting applications fell within the commercial sector, and that sector was exactly 1/2 of the remaining, the most that the firefighting market could account for is approximately 28% of the global market. This is likely a high estimate.
Calculate the CAGR for the market in 2016:
2013: increase of $303M for a total of $3.402B
2014: increase of $332M for a total of $3.432B
2015: increase of $335M for a total of $3.435B
2016: increase of $335.25M for a total of $3.770B
Then I calculated 28% of $3.770B = $1.0556B for thermal imagers (2016 global estimate)
--Tools and Equipment
There are an estimated 30,000 fire departments in the United States. Each fire department would purchase this equipment once, but replace it every so often. I am taking the numbers I found for individual kits as an estimate at the cost of starting a department with equipment other than apparatus. By using the 30,000 number, I will be providing only a US one time purchase number.
I found an organization that provides grants for equipment, and found the following listed costs:
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$40,800.00 for the equipment a firefighter would use, found in a department.
My assumption is that by using this number, $40,800, multiplied by 30,000 US departments, would provide a rough calculation for global spend, if you assume this total cost was spent across upgrades and replacements annually considering all global departments. The total estimated annual spend for equipment and tools is $1.224B.
(The remaining grants listed were provided for items such as thermal imagers (above) or specialty items such as boats or motors.)
COMMUNICATIONS
Firefighters have specialized communications requirements due to the SCBAs, which can interfere with clear communications.
$11,100.00 would provide communications for 10 firefighters, according to the photos on the website. This is $1,110.00 per firefighter in the department. With 5 million firefighters, the estimated spend would be $5.550B global spend for communications equipment and pagers. This assumes that the equipment in the department is the same as purchased by the NFPA grant money.
The estimated global spend on firefighter communications equipment is estimated at $5.550B globally.
The total for thermal imagers ($1.0556B), tools and equipment ($1.224B) and Communications equipment ($5.550B) would provide an estimate for global spending: $7.83B annually.
For the total of PPE and tools and equipment;
$32.55B for PPE
$ 7.83B for tools and equipment
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$40.46 B estimated annual spend globally.
OTHER FIRE SUPPRESSION EQUIPMENT
This equipment is not individually worn or carried by a firefighter for specialized suppression or rescue.
-- Fire Protection Systems, including alarms and installed suppression. The market research report for this sector forecasts, "The fire protection systems market size is expected to grow from USD 47.96 Billion in 2015 to USD 98.24 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 10.1% between 2016 and 2022. Although the fire protection systems market is currently dominated by the active fire protection systems, the passive fire protection systems market is expected to gain traction and grow at the highest rate during the forecast period." Other reports are available specifically for Firefighting foam, and fire hose.
CONCLUSION
Spending on Protective bunker gear exceeds $6,000 for a single firefighter, and breathing apparatus add approximately another $6,500 per person. The estimated global spend on all PPE for 5 million firefighters is $35.255B. When tools and equipment are added, estimated annual global spending on only the equipment the firefighter wears, carries and uses on a call (excluding apparatus) is $40.46B.
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