I think that all the other responses represent an excellent overview. One of the most helpful thing civilians do for us is to help us FIND THE SCENE!

At the last house fire we did, it was up at the end of a long, long lane, and some smart person sent someone up to the end of the lane to direct us and tell us how far down it was and another person at the long driveway leading to the house. Because it was so far down the lane, we were able to have an engine reverse-lay 5" supply line from the scene out, which saved quite a few minutes, because the were able to dump all 1500' of their 5" line and then we just pulled down another 500' to meet the end of their drop, knowing that we were already hooked up to the attack engine at the other end of the 5" line, and also that we'd immediately need a lot of water right away just to fill 2000' of hose. All this because two people simply helped us find the scene and give us a tiny bit of information more than we had.

As far as response times, we're likely neighbors (I'm in Bucks County) and 30 minutes is on the long side for a response, but not at all unexpected given that so many EMS companies have gone bankrupt in the last 2 years. We just lost the ambulance crew for Dublin PA, and up here in the North end, the EMS squad is always on the verge of economic collapse.