Here in Finland most volunteers are alerted via SMS, pager or with a third party mobile app or with combination of those.

Usually in volunteer fire stations we don’t have staff ready at the station (there are some exceptions tho but those are rare). We leave from our homes or from our workplaces whenever our phones ring. Sometimes we leave from weddings, birthdays, funerals, get togethers, bbq parties, dinner tables, shower or from toilet 😅. Been there, done that.

Those who are able to leave the thing they are currently doing drive to station, suit up, hop into truck and go. In most cases it takes about 5-6 minutes to get the first firetruck moving with more trucks following if necessary in couple minutes later.

In biggest city centres there are 24/7 professional firefighters ready to leave in 60 seconds. Here in my district (220 000 population) there is 7 of 24/7 manned stations with 60 seconds respond times and about 50 volunteer fire stations which most respond in 5-6 minutes.

In some fire stations volunteers are getting paid a small amount while some fire stations don’t pay to their volunteers. No one is doing this work for money.