Our all-volunteer fire department is beginning to bill for services where we can. Since this wasn't done before and previously no accurate records were kept of expenses, we are in the dark about what to charge. We do not want to use an outside billing service at this time. Specifically, we had to clean up a chicken truck spill. We used foam and water and several men to remove the dead chickens off the road. The company (Pilgrims Pride) is now under bankruptcy and their outside service says we have to justify how we arrive at our fee of $6000. They want to know vehicle and manpower hours and costs per man or vehicle, costs for foam, water and fuel. We got our figure from the other fire department involved in the cleanup, who uses an outside service for their invoicing. We'd sure appreciate any help! does anyone have standard fees they'd care to share? Thanks! Jan Kenyan, Grant Director, Avinger VFD.
We are allowed by Illinois law to charge $35 per hour per man and $125 per hour per apparatus; I believe fuel is included in this price. We also charge actual cost for consumables. I also believe this is about to go up per law. Now with that said sometime we adjust down to fit the incident, for example if we have 12 guys at car in the ditch, but sounds like the one you got is a nice money maker.
At the minimum calculate the costs of foam, fuel and any other expendables used at the scene. We don't charge for those items unless insurance companies are involved. TCSS
Check out Revenue-Rescue.com I've used these guys in the past and it was really good. There is actually a price sheet for you to fill out. They will not harass the customer for the money if you tell them not too. They will go only as far as you want them to, to collect the money. I like them.