One of the gals here at my office, a trained paramedic, recently resigned from a local VFD. Between her job, her son, and the requirements of the VFD, something had to give.

I know some police departments in my local area pay reserve officers when they're on duty. I don't think the get the benefits of a full timer, but I believe when on patrol they receive the same amount of pay as their full time compatriots.

Since benefits are so expensive, I wonder if paying VFD members while on duty wouldn't be a good way to keep people as well as holding the total cost down. Of course there would be many locations where even that option would be prohibitively expense, but I imagine many mid-size towns might be able to pull it off.