See also the Firefighter article and its sections regarding VFDs in other countries.

A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department composed of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction.

The first large organized force of firefighters was the Corps of Vigiles, established in Ancient Rome in 6 AD.

The term "volunteer" contrasts with career firefighters who are full-time/professional firefighters, working organized shifts, usually based in a centrally located firehouse. Some volunteer departments may operate as part of a combination system, where paid firefighters also provide emergency services. In this way, a station can be regularly staffed for rapid response with apparatus, and the volunteers provide supplementary staffing and/or staffed apparatus before, during, and after an incident, or while the career staff are out of service doing training.

The term "volunteer" may also be used in reference to a group of part-time or on-call firefighters who may have other occupations when not engaged in occasional firefighting. Although they may have "volunteered" to become members, and to respond to the call for help, they are not compensated as employees during the time they are responding to or attending an emergency scene, and possibly even for training drills. An on-call firefighter would probably be expected to volunteer time for other non-emergency duties as well (training, fundraising, equipment maintenance, etc.).

A fire department or fire brigade (also known as a fire and rescue service or simply fire service) is a public or private organization that provides predominatley emergency firefighting and rescue services for a certain jurisdiction, which typically is a municipality, county, or fire protection district. A fire department usually contains one or more fire stations within its boundaries, and may be staffed by career firefighters, volunteer firefighters, or a combination thereof.

A fire department may also provide "fire protection" or fire prevention services, whereby firefighters visit homes and give fire safety advice and fit smoke alarms for members of the public. In many countries fire protection or prevention is seen as an important role for the fire service, as preventing a fire from occurring in the first place can obviously save lives.

Most public or municipal fire departments also carry out an enforcement role, to ensure that commercial dwellings (hotels, offices, factories, and so on) are equipped with adequate fire precautions to ensure that in the event of fire, people can safely evacuate the premises unharmed. This is also part of the protection or prevention role.