Farenheit451 my friends! how cool

I'm sure firefighters are just thrilled at this idea.

This is what the Oregon Trail chapter of the Red Cross does all the time, very well and very economically.

Your data is incorrect. Fires have not gone down. They remain constant at around 2,000 fires per year (roughly 6-7 a day.) Medical calls have increased dramatically so as a percentage of total calls, it appears they have gone down but Portland has roughly the same number of fires every year. Since fires cannot be predicted, the Bureau places apparatus in an effort to provide the best fire protection across the city. Start cutting fire trucks and you cut fire protection. Adding additional medical and inspection services should be just that, an addition of services....not piling more work onto already busy stations (70,000 calls a year for 30 stations.)

Also, the City would have to renegotiate its contract with the Fire Bureau for this happen, so there's that hurdle. Since Saltzman is not well respected as a fire commissioner, he is not likely to get the rank and file support for this.