Canada

County's have zero money, and they're likely the ones who would be paying for rural fire fighters.

Volunteer firefighting, in my experience, could be a lot more effective with key positions that were paid with the rest volunteer. Managing a volunteer organization is really challenging when you have neither the carrot of a salary, or the stick of being fired. So you need to be well-run to make sure everyone is feeling appreciated, effective, and to exploit that feeling of civic duty and being part of a team.

The rural pool of potential volunteers is shrinking as young people move to cities and smaller towns die. Those that can volunteer might not be up for the increasingly strict procedures and standards imposed on them provincially, and their day job is almost certainly a 20+ minute drive from the fire hall anyway.

This is all aside from the fact that it's a really hard job. At any moment, day, night, on the shitter, you're under huge social pressure to respond to all calls. Most of which are false alarms, mandatory mutual aid for which you're likely to be stood down for, or frequent-fliers who really need mental help not volunteers who can only offer to check vitals and wait for an ambulance. And the real calls can involve seriously traumatic events - many of which involve people we know from the community - for which we're offered next to no assistance with dealing with after the fact.

And this is a problem that effects almost everyone. Next time you're on a road trip, think about who would respond to help your family if you got in a serious accident, and think about how well trained they might be.