I am an East Coast Fireman taking charge of a new West Coast Volunteer Fire Department. Their has developed a debate over patches/badges within our BOD. The question is, is it required in the state of California for offical Volunteer Fire Departments to use VFD or Volunteer on their identification or badges? With the Penal Code defining a fireman, as any member paid or not of an offical department, and no mention of a volunteer being anything other than a fireman, it leaves us wondering. Any help would be great....the State Attorney General won't write us back.