LFM: Thanks for the info. You're right about more members, my town has 11 trucks and 99 firefighters! My town is so small and just like my Lego town, we get few calls but also so no need in having guys just sit around the station for days without calls. Christian: Thanks, Dallas FD is probably one of my favorite departments because of there trucks. Those Spart Crimson Gladiators with Chevron bumpers look so cool.

Great idea going volly, LFM made some great points, and nice to see someone getting inspiration from Dallas!

About 98 percent of communities with a population of 5000 and under are volunteer. With a population that small it is cost prohibitive to have a career department, even if they run EMS and you can subsidize the budget with insurance payments for ambulance transports. Also, going volunteer may actually get you more firefighters. Most small career departments have only a small group on each shift. This usually is inadequate for structural firefighting. A good volunteer department can get you as many or more firefighters, even during the daytime during the week, when most volly departments have the least members available to answer alarms.