Line 362 – Volunteer Firefighters’ Amount and Line 395 – Search and Rescue Volunteers’ Amount

Volunteer Firefighters’ Amount

Individuals who volunteer as firefighters may be eligible to claim a $3,000 tax credit if they meet the following criteria:

• Served as a volunteer firefighter during the year
• Completed at least 200 hours of eligible volunteer firefighting services across one or more fire departments

If you provided similar services for pay to the same fire department, any hours related to that employment cannot be included in the 200-hour total.

Eligible Services

Volunteer firefighting services are categorized into primary and secondary services.

Primary services include:

• Responding to firefighting and emergency calls
• Being on call for fire-related incidents
• Attending fire department meetings
• Participating in mandatory training related to fire prevention and suppression

Secondary services include:

• Maintaining fire department vehicles and equipment
• Conducting fire safety education sessions

Calculating Eligible Hours

To meet the 200-hour requirement, the total hours spent on primary services must be greater than the total hours spent on secondary services for each fire department.

Search and Rescue Volunteers’ Amount

Individuals who volunteer for search and rescue operations may also be eligible for a $3,000 tax credit under similar conditions.

To qualify, you must:

• Have been a volunteer search and rescue worker during the year
• Have completed at least 200 hours of eligible volunteer search and rescue services with one or more organizations

If you performed similar duties for pay with the same organization, those hours cannot be counted toward the 200-hour requirement.

Eligible Services

Search and rescue volunteer services include:

Primary services:

• Responding to search and rescue calls
• Attending required training sessions
• Participating in search and rescue missions

Secondary services:

• Maintaining search and rescue equipment
• Providing public education on safety and preparedness

For both volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers, meeting the 200-hour requirement is necessary to claim the tax credit.