Because most of them enjoy doing it and their community directly benefits from the work.

Not all pay for work is monetary, but firefighting is still work.

And I just realized - maybe you hate your job. If that’s the case, go find something else you enjoy that happens to pay the bills. Life is too short to be spending your working hours hating life, and if you’re on this site you can probably find some sort of job (or start a business) that you enjoy and others find valuable.

Volunteer firefighting is not work. See my work definition here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30127704 No, I actually enjoy my work, as I wrote in my first comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30099687

I think most volunteer fire fighters have other jobs.

https://www.quora.com/I-dont-understand-volunteer-firefighte...

That doesn't answer my question, does it?

In the most literal sense no, but I think it does address your point.

Honestly it’s an odd example to pick because there are paid firefighters too - why would you need to pay firefighters if enough people are willing to do it for free?

"How come volunteer fire departments exist?" is a rethorical quesiton. Whether volunteer firefighters have other jobs is beside the point. Clearly, useful tasks can be executed without a work context.

The reason you need to pay firefighters is because society is work-centric.

As a rhetorical question, I don’t think it achieves the goal you intend it to.

The reason you need to pay firefighters is because a few people might give some of their time, but a fire department needs to operate 24x7.

When you can’t find enough volunteers in your society, how do you solve the problem of buildings burning down at a time no-one chooses to volunteer?

I think people would volunteer. Main reason not many volunteer is because they are busy with work. In a workfree society people would have much more free time to spend than they have now.

I’m glad you think that. Would you volunteer? I don’t think I would. Especially late nights and weekends.

I’d rather do something more fun if I can pick and choose. Maybe race car driver? Or chocolate taster?

Yes, I would. It would be a fun way to meet new friends.

How come paid fire fighters exist then, if others are willing to do it for free?