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FirmhandKY -> RE: LET IT BURN?!? Firefighters Watch Home Go Up In Flames Over $75 Fee (10/5/2010 7:31:03 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: pahunkboy
Volunteer FDs are always cheaper then when a city has a paid FD. The taxes are jacked up to cover that cost.
even volunteers- you can only push so far. Often these guys have day jobs.
I once lived in a small rural town in which the city provided the fire house, some equipment and a communications system for a VFD. The volunteers were not paid a salary, but only a small fee (between $20-$50 per incident) when there was a call out.
All the admin and training was done gratis by members of the department.
The county didn't have enough tax funds to hire enough firemen to cover the county, but what they did was become a partner with the city, and the VFD itself, and provide property and buildings around the county for the fire personnel to stage trucks and equipment.
Because of the costs, and the improvement to the overall abilities of the Fire Department, the City paid the salary of a full time admin person, and the Chief.
So, we had a private,volunteer organization, partially funded by the City, partial funded by the County, which also raised private donations.
It was a pretty effective department, which also required County citizens to pay a minimal subscription fee, to help offset the costs of the Counties funding.
Occasionally, someone wouldn't pay the fee, and needed to call the Department.
Sometimes they would come and fight the fire, sometimes they would just come and make sure it didn't get out of control. It depended on a lot of factors, including the decision of the Fire Department itself, and the agreements between the three bodies.
It can become pretty complicated.
Firm
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