Employers are usually pretty understanding and supportive of volunteer fire/ems. My cousin was in a small town in Maryland and all the employers were very supportive of the VFD and would help out in any way they needed. You have to remember that if the town ever hired paid emt/firefighters they would probably raise taxes to do so. So the employer gets less taxes in a volunteer area for one thing. They you can almost advertise having an EMT/firefighter on staff.