Supporting America's Volunteer Emergency Services Act

The Supporting America’s Volunteer Emergency Services (SAVES) Act would create a federal funding stream to help volunteer fire departments pay for gasoline and diesel fuel. Volunteer fire departments are extremely vulnerable to spikes in fuel prices like we’ve seen over the course of the past year. Emergency response in rural areas, where volunteers are most prevalent, is extremely fuel-intensive because of the large areas that individual fire and EMS agencies in those communities serve. Additionally, because there is often no readily available water source near structures in rural areas, fire suppression often involves multiple trucks pumping and hauling water to the scene of an incident.