Volunteer firefighters are not unpaid, that not what volunteer means in this context. They are not full time, professional firefighters, they have normal jobs and when a call goes out, whoever can make it drops what they're doing and goes in. But they absolutely get paid, very well, for their time, from the tax payers dollar. Or by directly suing for restitution as with my car accident. $1700 for a gaggle of looky lous