In the news a bunch today.

From my personal blog:

http://19k.blogspot.com/2010/10/75-firefighting-fee.html

I'll make this as short as possible. I am a volunteer firefighter and I have been the president and treasurer of our fire company. I am in a rural area. Here are the facts.

1. Over 80% of fire and rescue services in the USA are provided by unpaid volunteer companies.

2. Many of these volunteer companies are autonomous, non-profit organizations, NOT municipal services. They are, however, acting on behalf of the local government, regulated by it as well. It's often a 501(3)(3) corporation that is granted the privilege of acting on behalf of the government. A fire "department" is just that - a department of the government. A fire "company" is just that - a company that exists to provide fire and/or rescue services. Most places have fire companies, not fire departments. Especially rural areas.

3. MOST - yes MOST of these volunteer companies are NOT fully funded by the local government via taxes and rely on fundraisers and grants for some or ALL of their funding. In the time I was president of our local fire company there was NO defined fire tax from the municipality - they gave a small "donation" every year that covered 17.5% of the operating budget of the fire company - the rest was made up holding breakfasts, selling raffle tickets and so on. We generate our own income, we manage our own cash, we are CONSTANTLY were running into one financial crisis after another. We now (as of 2010) have a fire tax - and it STILL only covers 63% of the operating costs. We STILL have to hold carnivals to chase dollars.

This is Very Bad because in the last 10 years:
- The number of people available to volunteer has declined dramatically.
- The amount of training required to be a firefighter has increased dramatically.
- The costs of running a fire company have increased dramatically

So now you put it all together and you have many small rural fire companies with no tax funding, volunteers departing, and the ones who remain are constantly hustling for funds with bake sales and coin tosses and so on, and then you're told you need some 40 hour course in rescue ropes or hazmat or some such ON TOP of the 40 hours you're spending doing fundraising.

Members are hardly able to keep up with the TRAINING much less the FUNDRAISING. THEN the bill comes for the new federally required equipment, or you need to replace 20 year old gear at a cost of $3,200 per member, or the new homeland security requirement for X, or the fire truck is 45 years old and not working anymore (fire trucks are $250,000 to $1,000,000 EACH).

Eventually, the fire chief and president of the fire company come to the conclusion that they need to get some sort of predictable income if they want to keep the doors open. So the try for a fire tax with the local government, and that gets shot down. They try again and again. No tax. So, as a last resort, they return to the roots of firefighting, which is private companies and paid subscribers. It's insurance, and the customers get coverage.

And then the day comes where a house burns - and it's not a subscriber's house. And that's that. That's where it all comes together. The house burns. Because, as a company, YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO NOT LET IT BURN because if you do VIRTUALLY EVERY OTHER SUBSCRIBER WILL STOP PAYING BECAUSE IT MEANS NOTHING TO SUBSCRIBE. What then? The fire company sacrificed one house to save the whole company, which means that the company will continue to exist and service the majority of residents who do pay in.

If there was anyone in the house, they would have gone in, subscriber or not. But property? No. And I don't blame them a bit. You want access to a shared service? You have to pay for it, one way or another. You opt out of that system? You're all the way out.