I currently work with someone that I have known for a long time who is a volunteer fire fighter locally. I asked him about joining and he told me "don't waste your time."
He informed me that the reason is because (and this is only based on HIS department) there are quite a lot of tenured members that do absolutely nothing when it comes to duties, training, etc. and are only there to get the tax break. These people are basically "dead weight" and really are not current on their training and a hazard when in the field but, they have been there so long that no one can do anything about it. It's kind of like a tenured teacher that has given up and just occupies their classroom to get a paycheck.
I get stories all the time about how they hold training and these guys simply refuse to participate because they know they cannot be fired or voted out due to their length of service in the FD.
I'm fine with raising taxes to go from people doing it as a hobby to people doing it because it is their professional life. Some take offense at that, but I do not believe a significant number of people involved are not good at it, I think they are doing it on the side as a hobby. Yes, there are poor professionals, too, but (as you imply) they can be dealt with far better than those who do it as a hobby.
But, they're not trying to go to a professional force, they simply want a newer building (for one district) and paid back for supplies. I don't think it takes away from volunteers to have the ride paid for by insurance in order to recoup some of the costs of the consumables (gas, insurance, maintenance, and supplies).
I am very thankful that so many people choose this as their hobby, because it helps keep the taxes down. As for me and mine, whenever humanly possible we have gone to the hospital on our own, because I am technically qualified to ride the ambulance and I am nowhere near actually qualified to ride the ambulance. I have to assume others are out there like me, so I just go straight to the hospital.
As for those refusing to participate in training, that is clearly an issue with the instructors passing the students. The way to fix that problem is not pass them if they don't earn it. Yes, that will make the instructors less popular, but the county's safety is not a popularity contest. And, if they are not qualified, I can't see how they could continue to be on the team and reap the paltry (but not insignificant) benefits.
Too many of these volunteer organizations are run as social lodges and not as professional safety services. Primarily, I fault the fact that they are organizations of like-minded hobbyists, and not professionals who have dedicated their professional lives to the safety of others, not their hobby time.
