Who is rewarded, the fire officer or the fire prevention officer?

In my experience it is the person who solves the issue (puts out the fire) rather than the person who ensures that the issue (fire) does not happen in the first place gets the reward.

Solving issues and problems gets people noticed in an organisation as everyone likes a problem solver. They have high visibility in an organisation and are normally on the short list for promotions as the value that they add to the organisation is clearly evident.

The person that prevents fires or issues from appearing is rarely seen in an organisation. They can quietly get on with their role providing massive value and profit to an organisation all without the same level of attention as the person who solves issues.

So, from a career advancement perspective it could be seen as beneficial to let issues happen and then to solve them! As you would get the credit for solving the problem! (this is not a recommendation!)

The benefit to the organisation for this approach is questionable as well as from a moral perspective but problem solvers are in high demand.

Either way both types of people are needed in an organisation as not every issue can be prevented. So in reality an organisation needs both problem solvers (fire officers) and problem preventors (prevention officers).