volunteer fire department

The Melrose Volunteer Fire Department’s new water rescue vessel, Marine 249, can be in the water in five minutes, and the crew no longer depends on the courtesy of the lake residents to respond to emergencies.

On a one-way bridge connecting the largest tourism district in Cedar Key, yellow caution tape hangs from six roadblocks forming a circle around holes…

In Windsor, the Zucchini Festival and the volunteer fire department are almost synonymous. The festival started out as a silly fundraiser for Windsor's fire department and May will mark the 35th time zucchinis take over the town.

Melrose is an unincorporated community that had a population of 6,708 residents as of 2016. What makes this town different from similar towns is its jurisdiction: four counties (Alachua, Bradford, Clay and Putnam) have jurisdiction over different areas in Melrose and it has no mayor.

A dual firefighter and emergency medical technician working at the High Springs Fire Department earns an average of $29,704 annually. The same position at Alachua County Fire Rescue equates to $33,357 per year. The salary for the same position at a South Florida town of Boca Raton is $47, 448 per year. “The turnover rate is high for us, compared to what we’ve been at in previous years,” said Harold Pheus, deputy chief of Alachua County Fire Rescue. “That’s one thing that has made us concerned about our wages.”