Houston County volunteer firefighters honored for their service

HOUSTON COUNTY, Ala. (WDHN) — 17 Houston County volunteer fire departments were honored for their service during the county commission meeting Monday morning.

Houston County volunteer firefighters respond to approximately 300 calls each year. They respond to wrecks, fires and medical emergencies.

They do this with approximately $40,000 in funding per faculty.

Volunteers need the same amount of training, 192 hours a year, as a full-time firefighter. All this while saving the county millions of taxpayer dollars.

“The people who put us in this position expect that they will have fire protection, which is an implicit expectation, so if the volunteers decide they can no longer do it, the county taxpayer will have to fund a countywide fire department and it will cost millions of dollars per year,” said Brandon Shoupe, chairman of the Houston County Commission.

Last year, the commission awarded $750,000 in additional funding to 17 departments to help them run.

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