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FAYETTEVILLE -- Third District Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, introduced legislation offering tax breaks to volunteer firefighters, he announced Monday.

House bill 5693 would allow volunteer firefighters with eight or more years of service a $1,500 tax credit and for those with three or more years a $1,000 tax credit. House bill 5694 would allow volunteers who provide firefighting or emergency medical services a tax deduction for up to $250 of their travel expenses. Both bills were assigned to the House Ways and Means Committee and have not come to a House vote.

How much the bills would cost is a matter that congressional staff will study, Boozman said in a telephone interview on Monday.

"The amount of money these volunteers save the taxpayers is staggering," Boozman said, citing the value of the service they provide and the property losses they prevent. They have improved that service steadily over the years, with much of that improvement coming at their own expense, he said of firefighters. The sacrifices are growing and recruiting and retaining firefighters is becoming a bigger challenge, he said.

Mitch McCorkle, chief of the West Fork Volunteer Fire Department, said he would "be tickled to death" if the measures passed. "People don't realize how much volunteers spend running their personal vehicles to the scene," he said. Volunteers under 21 years of age, for instance, aren't allowed to drive department vehicles for insurance reasons. "Our insurance company wanted to raise the age to 25," he said. "We told them we couldn't do that. When we asked them if they'd want to see a fire truck arrive if their house was on fire, even if the driver was only 21, they saw our point."

Fire departments try to give some compensation to volunteers for expenses, but those benefits are taxed as income, McCorkle said. Volunteers without a home, children or other major tax deductions often don't qualify for itemized deductions, he said.