On Tuesday night, city firefighters responded to a blaze on East Cunningham Street in the city of Butler around 9 p.m. and were joined by several other local fire departments.

As usual, our local firefighters did their job with diligence, knocked down the fire and no injuries were reported.

The story was posted on the Eagle’s website and Facebook page — and while many of the comments were people expressing hope that no one was hurt, some were made about the fact that Butler’s firefighters are paid.

One comment was made that it was “nice to see (firefighters) earning their wage since they’re worth half the city budget,” while others noted the department should have long ago become volunteer because then the city would “still (have) a pool” as well as more money for parks, paving and drainage improvement.

A few other comments came to the department’s defense, arguing that the fire department does much more than combat fires and that volunteers are difficult to come by these days.

Both of those latter comments are correct.

Aside from battling fires, the department leads safety programs at schools. It responds to accidents and medical calls. The department provides free smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

And anyone suggesting that the department make the transition to relying on volunteers hasn’t been paying attention to trends from the past several decades.

In the 1970s, fire departments across the state had about 300,000 volunteers. Today, that number has fallen to less than 40,000 volunteers.

Yet 96 percent of firefighters in Pennsylvania today are volunteers.

County fire departments have said their primary concern is that they have difficulty in recruiting new volunteers — and many departments can’t afford to have paid staff.

The fact that Butler is able to pay its firefighters is miraculous — and while it’s great to obtain volunteers for a fire department, paying them is better for retention.

So, while we defend our readers’ right to make their voices heard and state their opinions on our Facebook page, we also reserve the right to disagree with them when we feels it’s necessary.

Butler’s fire department keeps our community safe — but also a whole lot more. There’s no doubt they earn every penny they make.

— NCD