SWVAEMT

EVOC is required in my county for insurance purposes. 8 hours class time plus a 12 station obstacle course.

IMHO not without specific reason: accident, change in EVOC curriculum, person hasn't driven in X months, etc

My department requires EVOC to drive emergent in county apparatus. In VA, you can take EVOC through the Virginia Department of Fire Programs which requires no re-certification or CE or you can take it through the Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue Squads and then have to re-cert every two years.

https://www.nremt.org/downloads/emt_purchase_form.pdf

I doubt that anyone on scene had any input whatsoever in the decision as to whether or not to fight that fire. Most likely, the decision came straight from town hall and the town council is probably loving this because people in the area are likely lining up to pay "membership dues" while the fire dept. takes the heat.

At the bottom of the page, Informed has free trial versions of their ALS and BLS guidebooks. http://www.informedguides.com/?action=ViewProducts I don't have a PDA (yet) but if the electronic version is like the printed version, it would be very handy to have.

Just don't put the station telephone number on the website. You'll have people calling at all hours of the day and night when they should be calling 911. Other than that Google "Fire and Rescue Department" and get a bijillion ideas.