There’s one in my area that exists because they needed one that would respond to the Catholic church. The Protestants who ran the other fire department allowed the church to burn to the ground, so the church built one on its property right across the street.
Wait....what?
Are you serious, Clark?
As others have stated up thread, small communities do not have the tax base to afford fulltime paid first responders. Also there are some volunteer fire/ems departments that are closing or limiting services because the taxpayers in their districts are voting down tax increases or tax renewals. Of course that is the right, privilege, and prerogative of the citizens, but you get the services you pay for.