I was Volunteer Chief in a small rural town back in 80's. I went on and became a reserve deputy, had full powers as long as in radio contact with another deputy. . Several times we would be on scene of fire or rescue call, deputy 20 minutes away, and someone would get violent, refuse to obey fireman's request, fight break out ,etc. and I would have to switch from fireman/EMT to deputy. More often, deputy would be on scene, need back-up quickly, and I was there to help. Being out in the rural areas, we had only ourselves to depend on sometimes.