A comparative analysis of the transformation of the Turkish fire service in the historical process in the context of central-local governments

Although fire is a type of disaster as old as human history, there was no organization established for firefighting until modern times. Industrialization, urbanization and technological developments brought by modern times have also changed the size and content of fires. The Turkish Fire Department has not remained indifferent to these developments in terms of management model. The current firefighting organization has been reached with a continuously developing structure since the tulumacis. In this historical process, the process that the Turkish Fire Department has gone through in terms of management model has been examined in the study, and a new historical periodization has been made that will contribute to the literature. The current Turkish Fire Department is a mixed structure organized under very different hierarchies independent of each other, and serves under the responsibility of central and local governments, as well as private institutions and organizations in terms of management model. Although this mixed structure has positive and negative aspects, it does not correspond to the management model that the current Turkish Fire Department needs and that will ensure its effectiveness in combating all types of disasters, especially fire. As a result of the study, it was determined that the duties and responsibilities of the Turkish Fire Department have expanded considerably compared to the past, that it has become a unit that fights all kinds of disasters rather than responding to fires, that it provides a central security service rather than a municipal service in this respect, and that it is similar to other security/law enforcement services provided by the central administration, and that a new management model is needed in terms of the effectiveness of the service provided. In addition, as a result of the criteria determined in the study, it was understood that this new model should have a more centralised structure. As a result, it was understood that most of the problems experienced by the Turkish Fire Department today are due to the mixed management structure.