>>I agree. It should be a part of public safety services. In their case the municipality would be the county since they don't fall within any city limits. Everyone pays county taxes so I'm surprised fire service is not included and then the funds distributed to local voluntary fire departments. What is confusing to me is the city manager's role in this - what role could he have unless they lived inside the city limits and then they would be covered by city taxes...
>
>The word "voluntary" confused me a lot, because on this side it implies working without pay. On your side it just means "not compulsory".

That depends. For voluntary firefighters, it usually means both. They typically do not get paid, but do get reimbursed when they go out on a call (mileage, etc)... For some it is a means to get training to qualify for a paid position someplace else or at the same agency (some fire departments accept volunteers and train them) and for others it is something they do in addition to their regular full time job someplace else.