Combination fire department

A combination fire department is a type of fire department which consists of both career and volunteer firefighters. In the United States, combination fire departments are typically tax-supported in some fashion, and generally have an annual call volume larger than purely volunteer departments but less than career departments.

The career staff assigned to a volunteer station will handle all aspects of daily operations. This includes but not limited to daily equipment checks, weekly equipment checks, basic maintenance, firehouse maintenance, etc. The career staff at a station typically do not answer to the volunteer chain of command, but the jurisdiction they work for as that is who their pay check comes from. The career staff in a Combination Fire Department staff a station or unit because the volunteers in that station are unable to respond at some or all the hours in a day (volunteer firefighters have traditional jobs/careers that would prevent them from leaving work and responding to every call during working normal business hours). Furthermore, the volunteer organization may not have the manpower to cover all calls and the career staff augments them to provide minimal staffing for preexisting jurisdictional requirements.

Career staff are not in charge of the volunteer fire house. Depending on the staffing requirements, the career staff may be there 24/7, they maintain the station and equipment, but it still belongs to the volunteers.

Volunteer firefighters associated with a combination or volunteer department generally respond to the station or directly to an incident, when an emergency call is dispatched. Volunteer firefighters operate in the same range as full-time "career" firefighters, responding to fires and in many communities, vehicle accidents, hazardous materials, confined space, water rescue, ice rescue, and other rescue incidents as well as commonly providing first emergency medical response (prior to the arrival of the ambulances.) Some combination departments require their volunteer firefighters to be trained to the same standards as their full-time counterparts. Often career firefighters, will start with a combination department to acquire experience, training, and then attempt to get hired in the career service.

These days, volunteer firefighters are often compensated in one form or another, and those that are paid are often referred to as part paid or paid on-call firefighters. True volunteer firefighters are few in number, as it is economically unfeasible for fire personnel to be compensated for the amount time required for requisite training and for the personal costs of responding to dispatched calls. True volunteer firefighters are not paid for their time, although the Department of Labor has ruled that under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), volunteer firefighters can be paid a nominal fee up to 20% of the compensation a full-time firefighter would receive. These nominal fees can be based per call or shift or other requirements of service but may not be productivity based as in an hourly wage. After a certain number of years of service, some departments offer pension-like programs called Length of Service Award Programs (LOSAP) and some states offer tax breaks to volunteer firefighters. LOSAP, worker's compensation, liability insurance, disability insurance, expense reimbursement, and other benefits can be offered to volunteers without jeopardizing their volunteer status with the Department of Labor. However under FLSA, a firefighter working for an employer as a career firefighter may not volunteer their time as a firefighter or fire marshal for the same employer. A volunteer firefighter may volunteer as a firefighter for the same agency only if they are employed in a different role.

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