Volunteer fire department chiefs and presidents met Thursday totentatively set more stringent requirements for firefighters toqualify for a tax credit of up to $100 on their personalvehicles.

“We added some requirements for making meetings and answeringcalls by setting a minimum number of responses to qualify,” saidClifford Galey, the Lincoln County fire coordinator.

The fire chiefs recommended firefighters attend a minimum of 25percent of a department’s monthly meetings and answer a minimum of25 percent of its calls to qualify for the tax credit.

“We thought that was pretty reasonable,” Galey said. “Most ofour firefighters make that number and it’s one we think both thecounty and firefighters will find reasonable.”

Calls for First Responders will not be included in basicfirefighters’ numbers to determine the total number of callsfirefighters should have responded to, Galey said.

First Responders receive additional medical training and areoften called out to provide medical assistance prior to the arrivalof an ambulance. Basic firefighters are usually not needed on thosecalls.

The board of supervisors will review the recommendations at afuture meeting, Galey said.

The board has approved providing the tax credits, butqualifications on who would benefit from the plan are still underconsideration.

Supervisors said they wanted to limit the credit to volunteerswho actually assisted the county in their efforts, and not thosewho claimed to be firefighters simply for prestige.

Chief among requirements laid down by supervisors was that avolunteer cannot qualify simply by joining the fire department. Afirefighter must be in “active” status for a minimum of three yearsto qualify for the credit, according to the approved plan.

The 25 percent minimum proposed by fire chiefs would establishwhat constituted an “active” firefighter, Galey said.