Fire Fighters Watch as House Burns

In Tennessee - the home owner didn't pay his $75 annual fee and so when his house caught on fire, the fire department arrived, watched and protected adjacent property.

Capitalism and conservatism at its best? The guy did not pay for protection and thus, he didn't get it, even though the fire dept was right there with the hoses ready. What a tragedy.

Opinions?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20 ... cal-debate

Here's the short version of what happened: In rural Obion County, homeowners must pay $75 annually for fire protection services from the nearby city of South Fulton. If they don't pay the fee and their home catches fire, tough luck -- even if firefighters are positioned just outside the home with hoses at the ready.

Gene Cranick found this out the hard way.

When Cranick's house caught fire last week, and he couldn't contain the blaze with garden hoses, he called 911. During the emergency call, he offered to pay all expenses related to the Fire Department's defense of his home, but the South Fulton firefighters refused to do anything.

They did, however, come out when Cranick's neighbor -- who'd already paid the fee -- called 911 because he worried that the fire might spread to his property. Once they arrived, members of the South Fulton department stood by and watched Cranick's home burn; they sprang into action only when the fire reached the neighbor's property.

In this instance, I believe the firefighters should have done something, but not for the reason you might think.

I entirely agree that if you don't pay the fee, you do not get coverage. In fact, I also agree with the firemen that you can't allow the county residents to pay when a fire breaks out, or nobody would pay upfront.

But, there were animals inside, and that should trump money, period.

So I have a new solution...

If there's animals in a burning building, or the homeowner requests that the fire be put out, charge them ten times the normal fee, a total of $750. That way, you can either pay the fee once, or pay for ten years immediately if your house catches on fire. Sure, some people may not pay, and it's very possible that your house won't catch on fire for the entire length of time that you own it... but the real question becomes how much you value the risk. By all rights, the firefighters did the right thing, save for the fact that there were animals inside. They need to determine a plan to deal with that in the future, because it's more important.

Nothing new at all here, 30 years ago same stuff in FL.
Don't pay no toll don't eat no rolls, or get your house extinguished.

The animal deaths should be the blame of the cheap homeowner. Hopefully the guy didn't pay his fire insurance premium either.

This should increase the pay rate next year of the $75.

OUTRAGEOUS!!!!
If the libs, don’t get paid they will not do a thing.
This proves it. This "fee" is above and beyond the normal taxes, they are forced on people.
Going to play that way, let's get rid of the city fire departments and the taxes, and make them PRIVATE. Better prices, better Service. PROVEN.

What does the future hold...
folk in excited state: "Help! Help!"
911: "What seems to be the problem?"
folk in excited state: "I just saw 3 men with guns go into my neighbors house, I know they're home, and then I heard the dogs barking, and shots, Please Hurry!!!"
911: “I'm sorry as I look at your Phone ID, we are able to tell the address of your neighbors, and they didn't pay their fee, Have a nice evening.” And hangs Up!

TPP wrote: This proves it. This "fee" is above and beyond the normal taxes, they are forced on people.

I would actually be surprised if they are taxed for fire services... I may have missed that in the story. If they are, they should mandate that no funding goes to the fire department unless service is guaranteed. I'm not entirely sure, but I would guess that they are unincorporated.


As far as the rest of your post, I've always been of the opinion that police should only come when called, and that less policing would be a far better thing for our society as a whole, so i wouldn't mind. :Whistle

What will likely happen is that the man's insurance company will sue the Fire Department... There were animals inside that also perished, and that may lead to an animal-cruelty case as well.

It will be interesting to see what happens next...But I hardly think this is the end of it.

IF the tax-protest types have reduced the budgets for fire departments by refusing to keep the departments adequately funded, and IF the fire departments are actually going to stand by and watch a man's home burn down because he didn't pay a fee on top of his taxes, it's probably going to be an interesting case for litigation. Since I don't know all the details of this specific situation, (and I doubt that anyone else on this board does either), it will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

Either the woman homeowner or a neighbor said that the fire department had waived the fee once, why couldn't they do it again?

Does this mean they had trouble paying before or that they had a fire before and hadn't paid?

There's so much we don't know. Horrible about the critters, but I also blame the homeowners on that one.

Every jurisdiction is different. Where I lived in Virginia, even though there were volunteers at the fire stations, it was all paid for out of our taxes, even ambulances. There was no charge if you had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Not so in Colorado.

So, we need more facts.

Sadly they did not have the funds for hot dogs and marshmellows so morale was low.

LadyJazzer wrote:
watch a man's home burn down because he didn't pay a fee on top of his taxes,

As I understand it, the home was located outside of the fire district, so no taxes that the homeowner paid went to support the fire district. However they could "buy in to" the district protection if they paid the $75 fee to the fire district. Shame on the home owner. And if they told their insurance company that they paid the fee and did not the insurance company may not cover their loss.

As a former volunteer fire fighter, I’m not sure I could or would have stood around.