Volunteer fire departments work well here in SW Pennsylvania. They are part of the community and the community supports them with donations and fundraisers. Our VFD is staffed by everyone from high school students to able bodied seniors. With a small subsidy from the state to buy equipment, the communities pretty much cover the remaining costs. Our organizational model is the first volunteer fire department started by Benjamin Franklin nearly 300 years ago.
My former hometown (Fargo, North Dakota) once had a similar concept with civilian police. The full time police force was minimal, but well trained. The low risk stuff (parking violations, noisy parties and the like) were handled by volunteer civilian police. Many were students in law enforcement studies, security guard rent-a-cops who wanted something more real on their resume or even old retired guys who just wanted to do community service. A great way to augment the force on a limited budget.
But, of course, neither place had public employee unions to get in the way either.
in my area, the public firemen do everything they can to dissaude volunteer fire depts....too much competition..