Volunteer Firefighters Fight Obamacare Regs

IRS rules and mandates a threat to operations

Volunteer firefighters are counting on Congress to throw cold water on IRS rules placing them under Obamacare mandates that could bankrupt their operations.

Bipartisan legislation would waive the requirement that volunteer departments provide the kind of comprehensive health coverage that full-time paid firefighters receive.

Though the U.S. Department of Labor has long held that volunteer fire crews are, in fact, volunteers, the IRS puts them under the Obamacare umbrella as employees.

Except for larger urban areas, most U.S. communities are served by fire and rescue squads staffed by part-time volunteers. Of the country's 1.1 million professional firefighters, 753,000 are volunteers, according to the National Fire Protection Association.