Fire departments are funded by taxes.
All should be covered, county or city wide.
Fire departments have become union thugs who sit on their fat butts and do very little while accepting the gratitude of the masses for what OTHERS have done.
In some areas they are the most overpaid, underworked group ever to draw a paycheck.
Now they want an honorarium to put out the fire. No cash, the house burns.
It’s called corruption.
Twenty years ago our community was outside of the city limits and the local volunteer fire dept had yearly dues. The membership fee was offset by the reduction in insurance coverage so it was a push. However the mailings and other personal contacts clearly informed the homeowner that the sole purpose of their response if you were not a paid member was to protect life or the nearby home of a paid up member. They would watch a fire destroy a home and would only intervene if there was a potential victim. That was the policy until a tax referendum allowed for public funding and now all residents are served in the event of a fire.