Combination Fire Department - Volunteer Firefighters

Volunteer Firefighters

Volunteer firefighters associated with a combination or volunteer department generally respond to the station or directly to an incident, when an emergency call is dispatched. Volunteer firefighters operate in the same range as full-time "career" firefighters, responding to fires and in many communities, vehicle accidents, hazardous materials, confined space, water rescue, ice rescue, and other rescue incidents as well as commonly providing first emergency medical response (prior to the arrival of the ambulances.) Some combination departments require their volunteer firefighters to be trained to the same standards as their full-time counterparts. Often career firefighters, will start with a combination department to acquire experience, training, and then attempt to get hired in the career service.

These days, volunteer firefighters are often compensated in one form or another, and those that are paid are often referred to as part paid or paid on-call firefighters. True volunteer firefighters are few in number, as it is economically unfeasible for fire personnel to be compensated for the amount time required for requisite training and for the personal costs of responding to dispatched calls. True volunteer firefighters are not paid for their time, although the Department of Labor has ruled that under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), volunteer firefighters can be paid a nominal fee up to 20% of the compensation a full-time firefighter would receive. These nominal fees can be based per call or shift or other requirements of service but may not be productivity based as in an hourly wage. After a certain number of years of service, some departments offer pension-like programs called Length of Service Award Programs (LOSAP) and some states offer tax breaks to volunteer firefighters. LOSAP, worker's compensation, liability insurance, disability insurance, expense reimbursement, and other benefits can be offered to volunteers without jeopardizing their volunteer status with the Department of Labor. However under FLSA, a firefighter working for an employer as a career firefighter may not volunteer their time as a firefighter or fire marshal for the same employer. A volunteer firefighter may volunteer as a firefighter for the same agency only if they are employed in a different role.

Part paid or paid on-call refers to the fact that some volunteer firefighters are only partly compensated and their stipend or pay often do not fully cover the costs associated with being a firefighter including lost wages from their primary occupation for response to dispatches and training. Their pay may be hourly based and may or may not qualify for volunteer status under FLSA. In addition, many part paid or paid on-call firefighters with combination departments still volunteer or are unpaid for part or all of the time they spend on training, administrative tasks, equipment maintenance, public education, and fund raising and often cover the cost of supplemental training from their own pockets.

Volunteer firefighters carry radios or fire pagers, primarily the Motorola Minitor, to receive dispatch information where ever they are at the time a call is dispatched. Some combination departments use Nextel cell phones as well as alpha pagers with priority service contracts to dispatch information to volunteer firefighters. Depending on the response structure of the combination department, the volunteer may respond to the station to pick up an apparatus, or go directly to the scene of an incident in their personal vehicle with a full-time firefighter bringing the needed apparatus and equipment to the incident. Some combination departments also use volunteer firefighters to cover unfilled shifts of the full-time firefighters. Most volunteer firefighters live or work in the community they respond to fire dispatches in, and most combination departments have a requirement for residency within the community or within a certain distance of the community, in which they serve. Depending on the department, volunteer firefighters may respond 24/7 to any dispatched incidents or be split into response shifts. Response to incidents may be required during shifts, or a periodic run percentage may be required to maintain active status on a combination or volunteer department.