Personnel serving in combination departments can generally be divided into:

• A. Medical or rescue personnel
• B. Paid or volunteer responders
• C. Functional or scalar supervisors
• D. Residing or commuting responders

Answer: (B)

In a combination department, staffing is a mix of paid firefighters and volunteer responders. This arrangement allows the department to maintain coverage and respond to emergencies while controlling personnel costs—full-time paid staff handle regular operations, while volunteers (or on-call personnel) supplement staffing as needed. Paid responders receive wages and benefits, whereas volunteers donate their time and may receive training and some reimbursements but not a regular salary. The other options describe roles or living arrangements rather than how the workforce is composed, so they don’t capture the standard way combination departments are structured.