On Designing a Fire Emergency Vehicle Fleet

Problem definition: The configuration of an emergency vehicle fleet (EVF) is critical to ensure that responders have the resources necessary to serve emergencies quickly and help prevent loss of life and property. Determining the fleet’s optimal design involves decisions regarding its size, the spatial distribution of the stations, and the extent of collaboration among them. We study the optimal design of a fire service fleet that is characterized by low utilization of the vehicles. The primary tradeoff is between the cost of having too many vehicles in the fleet and the cost incurred by not serving a fire in a timely manner. Methodology/results: EVFs are highly expensive systems for the public sector. We introduce a novel queueing-model approach tailored to the EVF as a light-traffic demand system. Our model incorporates the necessary performance measures, that is, the response times and the fleet capacity, for determining the optimal fleet configuration. We validate the model and demonstrate its adaptability via an application to the Toronto Fire Services. Managerial implications: Adopting our proposed model can assist managers in making informed strategic decisions regarding the effective design of the EVF. The methodology can be used to determine the most efficient strategy for investment in fire services in a large metropolitan region. Funding: This work was supported by three Discovery Grants from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to the last three authors. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2023.0357 .