Ask Mr. Answer Person: "Can full-time fire department employees volunteer at fires?"

Fire on Mongtomery Street earlier this month

(Dale e-mails: "Decorah has a new replacement full-time fire person. When he is on duty, he can go to a fire and help. This person was a volunteer fireman before he became a full time employee. Why when he is off duty can he not volunteer as a fireman? In the fire on Montgomery Street, he was not on duty and was prohibited from participating. He only lives six blocks from the fire station. If they are short on manpower does this make sense?"):

Mr. Answer Person says: "City Administrator Chad Bird says there are U.S. Department of Labor rulings at work here.  In the past the arrangement that you suggest was permitted and employees covered by those rules have been grandfathered.  But the newest Decorah Fire Department employee is affected by the new Department of Labor rules, which basically say someone cannot volunteer to do a job for which they get paid at other times, says Bird."