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See also the Firefighter article and its sections regarding VFDs in other countries.

The first large organized force of firefighters was the Corps of Vigiles, established in ancient Rome in 6 AD.

Austria, Germany and Switzerland
Volunteer fire departments are providing the majority of Austria's, Germany's and Switzerland's civil protection services, alongside other volunteer organizations like Technisches Hilfswerk, voluntary ambulance services and emergency medical or rescue services. In most rural fire departments, the staff consists only of volunteers. The members of these departments are usually on-call 24/7 and working in other professions.

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United States
According to the National Fire Protection Association, 71 percent of firefighters in the United States are volunteers. The National Volunteer Fire Council represents the fire and emergency services on a national level, providing advocacy, information, resources, and programs to support volunteer first responders. The NVFC includes 49 state based firefighter associations such as the Firemen's Association of the State of New York (FASNY) which provides information, education and training for the volunteer fire and emergency medical services throughout New York State.

Republic of Ireland
The Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) in the Republic of Ireland is a branch of the national civil defence organisation. The service is usually only called upon for flooding incidents, emergency water supply and large-scale incidents where the resources of front-line fire brigades are stretched.

Finland
In Finland the firefighting in the countryside mostly depends on volunteer fire departments, nearly always with a contract with the regional emergency authorities (or, formerly and in Åland, the municipality). There are volunteer fire departments also in cities, but there with a minor role.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom there are three volunteer fire departments. The Auxiliary Fire Service is now disbanded, but part-time members of fire brigades who man smaller, often rural, stations are known as retained firefighters. Retained firefighters are fully trained personnel who provide cover on top of their regular jobs and live in the vicinity of a fire station.

Nicaragua
In Nicaragua there are three different groups of firefighters, two are ruled by the Direccion General de Bomberos which has government support and the other one is ruled by the Federación de Cuerpos de Bomberos de Nicaragua which are Benemeritos who are volunteers firefighters like Benemerito Cuerpo de Bomberos de Masaya

Chile
In Chile, the firefighting force is one-hundred percent voluntary.

Australia
Throughout Australia there are many volunteer firefighting departments which are set up by the individual states or territories. New South Wales is serviced by two statutory firefighting authorities. These are the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSWRFS) and Fire and Rescue NSW. Fire and Rescue NSW has

In Victoria, there are three main fire fighting organisations, Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board (MFB), Country Fire Authority (CFA) and The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE). The CFA is a volunteer and community based fire and emergency services organisation that is made up of around 61,000 members. Of these members, some 59,000 are volunteers See CFA Website. Their roles range from fire and rescue, to non-operational support roles.

In Western Australia, fire fighting is organised by the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia (FESA) together with Local Councils. FESA operate the Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service Brigades (VFRS) and some Bush Fire Service Brigades (BFS), while the remainder of the Bush Fire Service Brigades are trained by FESA, but operated and administrated by the Council of the associated area. VFRS Brigades are generally more involved in Structural Fire fighting, Asset Protection and Road Crash Rescue depending on their location, whereas the BFS Brigades are generally more involved in Wildfire Fighting. In Western Australia there is an estimated 31,000 BFS Members among 585 Brigades, and 2,000 VFRS Members among 88 Brigades :.

Canada
Volunteer fire departments are mostly found in rural and remote areas of Canada with 127,000 firefighters across the country. Most urban and larger fire services began as volunteer service and evolved into full-time members. Volunteer departments are necessary for areas that cannot afford to staff a full-time department.

Financial support
A VFD may be financially supported by taxes raised in a city, town, county, fire district, or other governmental entity, as well as corporate and other private donations, federal grants, and other assistance from auxiliary members, or firefighters' associations.

With these funds the VFD acquires and operates the firefighting apparatus, equips and trains the firefighters, maintains the firehouse, and possibly also covers insurance, worker's compensation, and other post-injury or retirement benefits. A VFD (or its governing entity) may also contract with other nearby departments to cover each other in a mutual aid (or automatic aid) pact as a means for assisting each other with equipment and manpower, when necessary.

Expanded duties
Depending upon the location and availability of other services, a VFD may be responsible for controlling structure fires as well as forest fires. Because it may be the only emergency services department for some distance, a rural VFD may also be fortunate to include first responders, emergency medical technicians, Hazardous Materials response, and other specially qualified rescue personnel. Law enforcement officers may also be trained in these related duties and overlap with the VFD. The VFD may also have duties as the local fire inspectors, arson investigators, and as fire safety and prevention education, in addition to being the local civil defense or disaster relief liaison.

Training
Operational volunteer fire department members receive some form of training, either in a formal or informal setting, this depends on the state and regulatory authority. The level and type of basic and specialty training varies across the country. Many volunteer fire departments have training programs equal to that of paid departments. New members are referred to as "recruits," "rookies," "probies" (short for "probationary"), or even "red hats" in some departments that require the recruit to wear special gear or markings (such as a red helmet in some departments) to denote their ranking. Some departments allow (or even require) new recruits to ride along on fire apparatus as observers before undergoing the rigors of further fire training.

Specialty training can include wildland firefighting, technical rescue, swift water rescue, hazardous materials response, vehicle extrication, FAST team, and others.