Privatization of Firefighting Services and Several Important Questions

Few people may be adequately informed about the significant issue of transferring governmental affairs to the private sector, but the transfer of four firefighting stations in Mashhad to the private sector, approved by the Mashhad City Council, could serve as an experience that may expand to all firefighting stations in Mashhad and subsequently to all of Iran. This possibility and the concerns about the spread of such a decision make revisiting this matter necessary. What are governmental affairs? Governmental affairs are those matters whose realization leads to the authority and sovereignty of the country, and their benefits are unrestricted, encompassing all segments of society, and benefiting from such services does not limit others' access. According to the above definition, those actions of the government that meet the following three conditions will be considered governmental actions. 1- Their execution leads to the authority and sovereignty of the country; authority and sovereignty here have a general meaning and encompass the country's authority in all social, political, military, cultural, etc., fields. 2- Their benefits include all segments of society; the spread of the benefits of governmental actions to individuals in society may be direct or indirect. 3- Each individual in society can benefit from the services related to governmental affairs without creating limitations for others. Where is the specific instance of firefighting activities in governmental affairs? Improving public health and education, controlling and preventing diseases and epidemics, and combating and reducing the effects of natural disasters and public crises are among the items explicitly stated in the law as instances of governmental affairs. Addressing public crises and reducing the effects of natural disasters is a clear and evident task of firefighting, which is well known to all. However, for reasons that remain unclear and even contrary to the explicit text of the law and legal authorities and experts, it is currently being implemented. Firefighting is, by nature, a service that everyone benefits from and is considered a form of non-military defense and governmental affairs in countries. In almost all countries worldwide, governments or municipalities are responsible for controlling this service, and its qualitative and cost-related issues are directly supervised, guided, and controlled by the authorities, and this sector is also in direct support of other defensive elements of the country. Now, the transfer of firefighting services to the private sector, given the nature of the private sector in Iran and its inherent disinterest in cost issues, technological advancement, and downsizing service provision, raises significant concerns regarding the success of this plan, and so far, the executing authorities have not provided a clear and operational response in this regard. What matters are we dealing with in the firefighting transfer plan? Proponents of this plan believe that the quality of services provided by the private sector is higher and has a lower cost compared to similar services in the public and governmental sectors. The private sector operates based on a mechanism that is profitable and cost-effective. However, in the public sector, service providers may not be as focused on profitability and customer satisfaction and may not make efforts in this regard. Urban services are not exempt from this general rule. If these services are put out to competitive bidding among private service-providing companies in a transparent, healthy, and meritocratic process, and the best companies with the ideal type of service provision are selected, and if during the contract period, the contractor's service provision is continuously monitored by the supervising authority, one can hope to witness a significant leap in the quality and quantity of service provision. However, what do the realities say? 1) Some emergency firefighting services in this plan, such as opening elevator doors and dealing with pests or dangerous animals, will become chargeable, marking the beginning of a disaster. 2) In the plan currently operational in four firefighting stations in Mashhad, individuals are employed on a contractual basis with no job security for continued activity, and their salaries are significantly lower than those of current firefighters. Even in the event of damage to equipment, the costs of these damages must be personally covered, and the quality of firefighting equipment at these transferred stations is markedly different from the current standard, leaving no motivation for this model of firefighting. 3) Many questions arise regarding the method of transferring these firefighting stations, similar to other privatizations, which makes us partners in the unsuccessful experiences of privatizations, and this is an important matter that must be considered from now on.