When I was a volunteer, we got zero pay. We didn’t pay for our training or our gear, it came from fundraisers and state grants. I did it because inside of every man there’s a little boy that dreamed about being a fireman. But then, I never had to run into a burning building. Out here in the sticks, we mainly put out grass fires.
As you can see, it varies by town. Ours are unpaid, even the chief. They all have regular jobs and are allowed to go fight fires when the call comes in. There isn’t any place to sleep at the fire house. The training (initial and ongoing) is paid for by the department. The department generates it’s revenue from charging for calls and donations.
Also, our volunteer fire department has no trouble getting volunteers. The volunteer ambulance service on the other hand is hurting badly.
Other than someone who volunteered for military service, is this definition actually used for a paying job? I don’t believe I’ve ever heard this term used before. “I volunteered for a job at McDonalds?” Nope, that doesn’t sound right.
I think he means someone who voluntarily applied for and accepted a job rather than being forced into it as part of community service or indentured servitude or slavery or conscription. At least that’s the way I read it.
Having done payroll for a client who runs a volunteer fire department, I can say that these guys do get paid. It isn’t much and it’s only paid when they’re out fighting a fire. They do an awful lot of training and other hours that are unpaid. After a dispute with the IRS over certain issues, I can even tell you that there are sections of the tax code with specific breaks for compensated volunteer firefighters.
This was my intent, but I’ve really only heard the term in the context of military service. For example, there seem to have historically been many regiments named the <something> Volunteer[s], etc., such as The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. My understanding was that Volunteer regiments were composed of people, who, of their own free will, decided that being a soldier was better than working in a factory, farming, or doing whatever else and decided to sign on the dotted line, not because they got a draft notice or because a judge ordered them to serve in the Army as part of their sentence.
Does anyone know if the term “volunteer” has ever been used in such a sense outside the military? For example, in the antebellum (US) South, there were enslaved farmhands. Were free people who chose to become paid farmhands ever called “volunteers” to distinguish them from slaves?
Is there any precedent anywhere for firefighters who were unfree labor? E.g., “It is the judgment of this court that the defendant is found guilty of a felony and is ordered to pay a fine of $1000 and serve as a full-time firefighter in the City Fire Department for a period of one year.”
Interestingly enough, this is not universal. Main line paid city departments often have contractual restrictions on moonlighting with other EMS agencies. There is almost always problems with getting sick calls and vacations covered, not to mention the possibility of becoming injured fighting someone elses fire.
In most small towns, the firefighters are all volunteer, and often no one gets paid at all. The chief is just the person willing to take on that responsibility.
The advantage is that a volunteer fire department is cheaper to fund, which can make a difference in a rural area’s tax base. The disadvantage is, of course, that it’s slower to respond. The firefighters are called to the fire station by a siren (in the old days; I suppose it can be done by text today) and then go out to the call. Obviously that slows the time, since they have to get to the fire station before going out on a call. But if you live in an area that only has one or two fires a year – if that – it’s not as necessary.
My father was a volunteer fireman for decades, though he gave it up in the mid-1960s. My grandfather back in the 1920s was a part of the alert system. People would call the telephone operator, whose office was above his store, and report the fire. The siren would go off and he would get the address from the telephone operator. The firetruck would pass his store and he’d shout out the address.
A large number of fire departments in the US were volunteer; only the biggest cities had paid departments. Some cities even have competing fire brigades who would sometimes fight over who would put out the fire (and there were cased when the issue wasn’t settled until after the fire went out). I think the city brigades had a subscription – you paid to get protection from them. That could lead to trouble if a fire started in a house that didn’t pay the subscription, then spread to other houses. It was decided that a municipal department was needed to cover everyone, while rural areas stuck with volunteers.
The operating expenses for a volunteer fire department was usually paid for by a tax levy, which paid the mortgage, bought equipment, paid for training, etc. The firehouse also was the community center, built with space for large meetings.
My sister was a FF. She got paid. I beleive it was $X per call and possibly $Y for every hour after the first.
Brian
I seem to remember that this idea (of competing fire brigades) was portrayed in the Martin Scorcese film Gangs of New York.
I have heard of inmates being used for labor in wildfire control.
The bio section about the author of this article on smokejumpers has a mention of spending time in “female inmate fire camps of Los Angeles County Fire Department.”
And another article from yahoo on Arizona inmates does specifically mention “[r]eceiving minimum compensation for such feats.”
On a related note, at Texas A&M (and perhaps other colleges), the ambulances are operated by student volunteers. The drivers, EMTs in the back of the ambulance, dispatcher back at the office, etc., with a paid professional as their supervisor. They have to be full-time students, in good academic standing (not flunking out, basically), and are only paid a meal allowance to get food while on their 12 hour shifts.
That said, they get all of their training and certification for free, and thanks to the recent technological miracle of wireless radios, they can often attend class despite being on duty. The professors are generally understanding if the uniformed paramedic in their class gets a call on their radio, grabs their stuff, and runs out of the room to jump in the waiting ambulance parked out front.
Astro;s words;
I have to agree with Astro on much, but it is also a place where people come together from varying social standings and work hand in hand for the good of the community. What i mean is the banker and the bus driver whom may never otherwise be associated outside of the different sides of the bankers desk like working on a loan for a pickup.
Back when the city had it’s own “Honey Wagon” we would see people working off fines and such but not as a firefighter.
I put in 21 years as a firefighter and we would identify ourselves as Professional FF’s rather than what our by-law’s called us, [Volunteer]. The reason is that there are true Volunteer’s and we had a stipend and a lump sum longevity award that is sometimes refereed as a pension.
Our award comes from the 2 percent returned back to fire departments from insurance company’s.
Also with the medical screening’s training requirements and such, Volunteer isn’t the best fitting title.
And many Career FF’s also belong to small community/rural brigades/departments.
Back in the early 80’s our retirees would get the 20+ year award in cash without paying any taxes on it. Then that was changed and it was actually legislated in MN that the state would reimburse a FF up to $1000.00 withheld by the IRS.
It’s quite common in Western states, although not in the way that you suggest. Colorado has a State Wildland Inmate Fire Team.
http://cozine.com/2011-july/swift-crews-–-offenders-fighting-colorado-fires/
A guy that I used to work with was a VFF. He told me that he wanted to get a job as a fire fighter for the city (paid) and if he had say “5 years VFF” on his resume it would help.
Made sense to me. Would this really help him get a job as a city Fire Fighter?
In various towns where I live there has been a movement to give volunteer firemen and EMTs a fairly substantial tax break. It’s difficult to even begin to cover the personal time and expenses these people spend each year to keep up with their training.
The biggest problem these days with volunteer firemen and EMTs is that often few can actually afford to work in the town they are serving, not through fault of their own, but that’s the way it is.
That said, towns need to think of the substantial savings they get from a volunteer force, rather than having a full time force (tempered with maybe they really need a full time force for practical reasons).
A town nearby which is mostly residential, but also has a concentrated warehouse area is hybrid, they have a full time force on part of the town (to attract businesses) and a volunteer force for most of the residential area. They, of course have radius restrictions (you must work within x miles of the coverage area…which could be in another town) in order to be a volunteer fireman.
I was a volunteer firefighter and EMT. We received no pay. I also lived in the firehouse with the understanding that I would run calls whenever needed in addition to my regularly assigned shitfs. At the time in my county, we only had paid firefighters until 5.30 pm, then it was all volunteer.
A lot of the volunteers were actually paid firefighters from other jurisdictions who volunteered in their free time. A guy I went to highschool and with whom I was a volunteer, is now a paid Washington DC firefighter and still volunteers in Virginia. If they’d let him, he’d fight fires and run calls wherever he is on vacation.
God Bless the man 
Yeah, he’s a good egg. He actually broke his back on the job a few years ago and DCFD wanted him to take early retirement on disability, but he fought the ruling, went through a lot of physical rehab and got reinstated. He is insane, but the man loves his job.