As some Cullman County residents voluntarily add $5 on their electric bills or $4 on their water bills each month to support their local volunteer fire department, few are aware of what exactly they’re paying for.

For example, the average set of turn-out gear, the clothes that a firefighter wears, costs about $1,500 head to toe, according to Good Hope Fire Chief David Scott.

According Bethsadia Fire Chief Buddy Carden, a new brush truck that is being delivered to them this week will cost about $75,000. That’s cheap, though, compared to the $200,000 pump truck they purchased two years ago.

He also said a single hose nozzle costs about $600 and the jaws of life that they frequently use on U.S. Highway 278, set them back $20,000.

On top of equipment, departments face a myriad of other costs. According to Carden insurance on buildings and vehicles can be very pricey. Sending volunteers to firefighter school is not cheap either.

According to Holly Pond Fire Chief Keith Garner, school for an emergency medical technician can cost about $1,250 to complete, most of the time out of the student’s own pocket.

“We get pretty thin on EMT work out here during the day,” he said. “Mostly because people don’t want to pay for the classes to become EMTs. They’re hard to come by.”

With costs like that, most of the chiefs report that funding is thin at best.

“It’s very expensive, very, very expensive to run a fire department,” Scott said.

In most cases, the largest part of the funding comes from donations made on utility bills, which average about $2,000 income per department per month, depending on how many members there are and how generous they are.

Money also comes in the form of sales taxes, a portion of which is set aside for fire departments. Depending on how sales are going, those also average about $2,000 a month, according to the chiefs.

While it does not directly affect any particular fire department, the County Commission gives $175,000 a year to the Cullman County Volunteer Firefighters Association. It deals mostly with grant applications and administration issues.

In addition, the state forestry commission also gives a small amount, less than $2,000 a year to each department.

As a result, most chiefs say they are forced to come up with creative ways to make ends meet. Hanceville and many other departments sell portraits in their communities to help cover the costs.

Bethsadia firefighters served up 450 plates of pancakes last month to help raise extra cash for their department.

“It takes a lot of donations to buy a $200,000 fire truck,” Carden said.

If fundraisers are not enough, the departments have also come up with crafty ways of getting around certain expenses.

While Holly Pond spent $80,000 for a machine to fill air tanks recently, they allow other departments to make use of it free of charge.

According to Joppa Fire Chief Donny Hadley, they go to Cullman City or across county lines to fill their air tanks so that their firefighters can breath in smoke-filled buildings.

Besides fundraisers, federal grants are also available to local departments, but most chiefs say they have not very successful as of late.

“You can apply for one, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get it,” Hadley said. “There’s money available, but most of it is going to south Alabama right now as a result of the hurricanes.”

With high costs and long hours facing all of the county’s 26 volunteer fire departments, perhaps the greatest money saver is the fact that none of firefighters get paid for their efforts.

Why then do they do it?

“My wife asks me that question all the time,” Hadley said. “I don’t really know how to describe it. It just takes a special person to want to do it.”

“The main thing is that they just want to help people,” Scott said. “The benefit for them is knowing that they helped save lives and property.”