Chilean firefighters do not want to be paid, but demand more funds from the Government. 83% of Chileans want the country's highest-rated institution to abandon the volunteer system.
In 1851, a group of residents of Valparaíso, about 120 kilometers from Santiago, decided to organize to fight the fires after the flames consumed a cigarette shop. The economic solvency of its aristocratic members was key to subsistence during the first 100 years of the institution's existence.