What type of departmental structure combines paid and volunteer personnel?

A combination department effectively leverages both paid personnel and volunteer members to provide fire and emergency services. This structure optimizes resources, allowing departments to maintain a higher level of readiness and service without the entirely financial burden of a fully career staff. By incorporating volunteers, these departments can often respond more rapidly to incidents and offer greater community involvement, while also benefiting from the training and experience of paid staff.

In contrast, a volunteer department typically relies solely on volunteers, while a career department is staffed entirely by paid professionals. A retainer department generally refers to a paid system where some personnel are on standby but may not be active or available full-time, which differs from the integrated approach of a combination department. Thus, the combination department stands out as the best option that encompasses both paid and volunteer roles effectively.