How long should one wait for rescue services if the house burns in a sparsely populated area in Sweden? Is it meaningful to report an on-going burglary or physical abuse if the exposed person knows that the police won´t arrive until several hours have passed? How can we describe the private alternatives, who are they and how do they function?

The contribution of this project is to focus on the challenges involved in supplying and performing blue light-services and related services in rural areas in Sweden. The supply of these services is diverse, depending on where in the country you live. Individuals and groups face different opportunities in using these services. This relates to how the services are designed, their amplitude and the time aspects of reaching them. An emergency situation or a crisis in many cases involve calling for rescue services. Police, ambulance or the fire brigade are the services we usually associate to this kind of sudden events, accidents or catastrophes, or when being exposed to crime. The needs for these services are unevenly distributed among the population; some groups are more exposed compared to others, and some areas have fewer services compared to others. The demand does in brief terms follow the population density which means that the supply is larger in the more densely populated areas. On an individual level, on the other hand, when a situation occurs, is it the situation that decides the need, not the population density. Providing a level of services that corresponds to individual needs parallel to the needs on a structural level and limited economic resources involves significant challenges. The public sector´s supply of these services is to a growing extent complemented by voluntary sector and private initiatives. This can be in the form of private companies in the security sector with many years of experience in providing these services, but it could also be “vigilantes” who´s aims and methods are not known officially. We have limited knowledge about this development and there is an urgent need to know more about the consequences.

The aim here is to identify and examine challenges and opportunities related to rural emergency and rescue services in rural areas. These aims are going to be achieved by first investigating the nature of emergency service provision in Sweden in face of the changes in supply and forms of emergency and rescue services. Then, by focusing particularly in rural areas, and in particular groups and services, we assess how the on-going transformation of emergency service provision affects everyday life of those groups living in most sparsely populated areas. The inter-connectivity of local and regional structures is of interest as well as the local to local connectivity. We will explore how rural communities are positioned in networks of interdependence; if they cooperate and/or if there are unnoticed possibilities for learning and cooperation. We use quantitative and qualitative methods. Results will be presented in a PhD thesis and in articles in scientific journals. The group of researchers will also arrange seminars involving participation from a reference group including important stakeholders. The results will be discussed and communicated by arranging an international workshop and by presenting papers at international conferences. The results will have implications for how to handle risk and the supply of emergency services in the whole country. Politicians, planners and stakeholders as well as executors and users will gain from an increased and deepened knowledge around the complex of problems involving the supply and distribution of these services.