Why Fire Districts cant charge for EMS

[dstern350]

I have read the Municipal Law that states that Volley Fire Districts cannot charge for EMS calls. There is no stated reasoning. Anyone have a clue?

[uniongoon]

no fire district can charge unless their c.o.n. pre dates the start of a district if you charge before you can charge now

[dstern350]

that adds more clarity, although I still dont get the reasoning. Why are Fire Districts constrained while everyone else isnt?

[sponge]

My guess is that there is a loophole in the state laws.
For some reason, this restriction only applies to volunteer fire departments, and not ambulance corps, paid depts, or private ambulances. Someone probably had good intentions back in the day, but now the law is getting abused by people who use volunteer fire depts as free taxis.
My old department kicked around the idea of charging for ambulance calls about 10 years ago until they realized it was illegal (people realized that the FD was free and the PD charged, so they started calling Firecom direct vs 911 to get the free ride).

[engine1511]

all I know is there are multiple depts in my county that have had to change the setup of there organizations and become seperate from the fire dept in order to charge for services to cover the costs of paying medics due to lack of manpower during the day.

On the other had though it makes its easier for fire dept members to join a nearby EMS service thats run by a fire dept by seperating itself from the fire dept.