Our volunteer fire departments are made up of men and women who donate their time to help others, but it can still cost a lot of money to run the department, especially if they need to provide insurance.

The House of Representatives voted this week to not hold volunteer fire departments to the employer mandate under Obamacare. This measure will save our local companies a lot of money, and let them stay open to fight fires.

The Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act was cosponsored by Representative McKinley, and aims to save volunteer departments from financial hardships. McKinley said 95 percent of the fire departments in our state are staffed by volunteers and so it's especially important to keep them up and running. The act would make sure that volunteers are not counted as full-time employees under Obamacare. This comes as a huge relief to local fire chiefs.

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