Any paid Volunteer Chiefs?

[JSMV72]

Just curious if any Chiefs of all volunteer dept. are being paid by the city. Also are any members of an all volunteer dept. being paid for the calls that they make each year. I am especially interested in any departments from Iowa and the mid west states.

Stay Safe

[LaFireEducator]

Just curious if any Chiefs of all volunteer dept. are being paid by the city. Also are any members of an all volunteer dept. being paid for the calls that they make each year. I am especially interested in any departments from Iowa and the mid west states.

Stay Safe

Volunteers, under IRS code cannot be paid, but can be reimbursed at a reasonable rate for expenses and time.

They will look at what the volunteer member receives v. the comparable rate for a full-time position of equal status and determine if that rate is reasonable.

[FuturePrimitive]

Not here. Our department is technically 100% volunteer, including all civil and line officers. And we do not get any monetary compensation. We do get all of our training, gear and uniforms paid for of course.

Now, I say technically because the district does employ two full time Station Managers (one for each station), a District Administrator, and a few part time Station Managers. Some of these employees are also firefighters with the department but not all. None are required to go on calls while on the clock.

[tree68]

http://www.firehouse.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120437 (Paid Volunteer Chiefs?)
Plenty of answers here, too.

[NakedTillerman25]

If I was paid in any way, I guess I wouldnt be a "Volunteer Chief" would I?

[tree68]

If I was paid in any way, I guess I wouldnt be a "Volunteer Chief" would I?

There's form, then there's function.

A paid-on-call firefighter isn't a 'volunteer' in the strictest sense of the term. In fact, many are considered part-time employees of their municipality. No argument there. A chief may get additional compensation by virtue of his expanded responsibilities.

But, in operation they function exactly the same as a purely volunteer fire department - most have full-time jobs outside the fire service. In the event of a fire, etc, they are alerted and if available, they respond.

There's the rub.

[neobuxhack]

I'm pretty sure volunteers cant be paid.

[tree68]

I'm pretty sure volunteers can't be paid.

As has been pointed out elsewhere (in other threads), volunteers can receive certain forms/amounts of compensation, per the IRS.

If you get right down to it, the workers comp coverage I receive while volunteering with the FD is a form of compensation.

And there is that form vs function thing I discussed above.

[backsteprescue123]

There are a few POC departments up this way that have full time chiefs making 50-75k a year.

[hwoods]

Just curious if any Chiefs of all volunteer dept. are being paid by the city. Also are any members of an all volunteer dept. being paid for the calls that they make each year. I am especially interested in any departments from Iowa and the mid west states.

Stay Safe

City?..... What City??...... Cities and Towns have nothing to do with Fire Protection here....... (Thank God.....)

We do not get paid, as such. BUT, anyone who gets Twenty Five Years of Active Service, AND reaches age 55, then is intitled to a Payment of $250.00 per month for the rest of their life........

[BULL321]

City?..... What City??...... Cities and Towns have nothing to do with Fire Protection here....... (Thank God.....)

We do not get paid, as such. BUT, anyone who gets Twenty Five Years of Active Service, AND reaches age 55, then is intitled to a Payment of $250.00 per month for the rest of their life........

N.C. Vollie retirement is 20 years of service and 55. I think the monthly payout is up to $167.33! By the time I get to "retire" the payout just might buy me a gallon or two of gas. But hey its better than nothing.

[JayDudley]

Up here in North Idaho we have about 12 Fire Districts in our County. Each has a Chief and they are paid to the best of my knowledge. There are some Districts where the only one paid is the Chief and or Assistant Chiefs.....Technically for us up here we are a Paid/ Volunteer Fire District with our Volunteers get paid. Before you start to correct me on that I guess we need to change it to a Paid /Call Fire District...

[LaFireEducator]

I'm pretty sure volunteers cant be paid.

Fair labor standards uses the 20% rule to determine if a member is paid or violunteer.

Basically if they are compensated at less than 20% of what the department would pay a full-time member, they are considered volunteer, not counting reimbursement payments for fuel and other expenses.

[LaFireEducator]

Up here in North Idaho we have about 12 Fire Districts in our County. Each has a Chief and they are paid to the best of my knowledge. There are some Districts where the only one paid is the Chief and or Assistant Chiefs.....Technically for us up here we are a Paid/ Volunteer Fire District with our Volunteers get paid. Before you start to correct me on that I guess we need to change it to a Paid /Call Fire District...

We have 3 small rural departments with a full-time Chief to our north. The rest are volunteer. They are classified as a combo department though 95% volunteer due to that one paid position.

Webster Parish, where my VFD is located also has 3 or 4 departments with one paid member. In a couple of cases, it's the Chief. In another couple of cases, it's a Captain or Asst. Chief. Again, even though the rest of the mebership is volunteer, that one paid position makes them a combo department by defination.

[NFD-Firefighter]

We are paid by call with a full time chief.

[rescue_1]

There are some departments around the Philly area, if I recall correctly, that have paid officers for the township or county, who respond with volunteer or combination paid/volly departments

[19echo95]

We have one guy in our VFD that is paid and he is a Captain. He is probably the best guy and most experienced guy in out dept. He needs to be chief.

[tydougherty]

we have a division chief that is paid, Also I am just getting started but at a few stations they are paid for working day shifts. we work shifts and only on the weekends. 12 hr shifts. we also have vollie chiefs at each individual station. then we also have a paid guy (Lt.) at each station.. we are a pretty large dept. with more career guys and stations than vollies.

[jam24u]

it is a good question, because of the extensive regulations coming down the pipe to the individual departments, they almost have to have a compensated member of some sort to even just be aware of the daily updates.

The increased loads being put on volunteer departments can also have an adverse affect on member retention and recruitment.

[iggerz]

My Department has a Full time Chief/Director and the rest are all volunteer's.
He is reponsible for 3 main stations and 4 satalite stations(sheds with one truck in it) which cover about 1400 square miles! We have around 90 volunteers, none are ever on duty just on call 24/7 using a pager system!
I think our chief/director makes around $60,000 per year plus benifits!