My little town doesn’t have a fire department. The township pays for coverage from the surrounding towns that do have fire departments.
Do you pay taxes for that?
I’m not familiar with rural towns. I live in the suburbs and every town has a fire dept (which is why our parades are so long).
I know some fire fighters are voluntary because I always see signs requesting them.
I believe ours is a mix of both paid and voluntary because there is always some vote going on to raise taxes to expand the depts. or to add onto the fire dept. buildings.