__Situation in Switzerland__
Out of 95,000 firefighters, only 1,200 are professional firefighters. *Areas with professional fire brigades, such as Zürich and Geneva, are exceptions.
If the number of volunteers is too low, it can lead to forced recruitment or you have to pay the fire service replacement tax (Feuerwehrersatzabgabe).
__My personal experience:__
I was informed of this fairly close to my 18th birthday and decided to pay the tax as I wasn’t that fit and was firmly involved in voluntary work. Now I’m a dad and with childcare and a job, it wouldn’t work out for me.
Some of my friends did the firefighter service in St. Gallen/ Schwyz but I know a few who also didn’t got informed (Thurgau, Aargau) and just had to pay the tax or volunteer by themselves.
According to the latest St. Gallen law, firefighting is now compulsory from the age of 20 until the age of 50.
In the canton of St. Gallen, the annual tax is between 50 and 700 francs, depending on the municipality and income. I am happy to pay this tax, but I understand if lower earners do not have to pay it, which is already the case in some cases.
And for all interested, I found a list with all the cantonal taxes + rules on the service in German:
https://treuhand-suche.ch/blog/feuerwehrersatzabgabe-kantonale-uebersicht/#1622215897842-79abc8b7-0cb7
by BezugssystemCH1903