Home burns while firefighters watch, again

[RonPaulFanInGA]

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Home-burns-while-firefighters-watch-again-135069773.html

OBION COUNTY, Tenn. — A local family watches their home burn to the ground and just a few feet behind them, firefighters watch, too.

It's happened multiple times before in one local community: firefighters refuse to respond because the homeowner didn't pay a fire subscription fee.

The last time this happened, the city of South Fulton, Tennessee, received a lot of heat nationwide for this policy. That was more than a year ago but nothing has changed.

It's a controversial policy that we've dealt with before. If you live in the city, you get fire protection but if not, you have to pay the $75 fire protection fee each year. With this policy, the city makes no exceptions.

"There's no way to go to every fire and keep up the manpower, the equipment, and just the funding for the fire department," Mayor David Crocker said.

And Crocker said by now, everyone should know about the city's fire policy.

"After the last situation, I would hope that everybody would be well aware of the rural fire fees, this time," Crocker said.

Bell and her boyfriend admitted they were aware but thought this would never happen to them.

For tonight, this hotel is home and they're happy be alive.

 

[Lucille]

"After the last situation, I would hope that everybody would be well aware of the rural fire fees, this time," Crocker said.

Bell and her boyfriend admitted they were aware but thought this would never happen to them.

Too bad they didn't learn from Cranick's mistake. Lesson learned?

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.”
--C. S. Lewis

Cranick's Folly

My guess is that homeowners in Obion County, Tennessee are lining up to pay their $75 and get their fire protection right about now -- and that local insurance agents are getting up form letters to let their customers know that their homeowner/fire policies will be discontinued if the $75 isn't paid.
[...]
Cranick's Folly makes it clear to everyone just what's at stake. That's bad for Mr. Cranick, but it's a good thing to the extent that it teaches his neighbors an important lesson.

 

[Stupified]

I live very close to Obion County. Not surprised this happened again. I can't fault the FD for this because everyone knows about the county fire fees (as stated in the article); it's unfortunate but completely avoidable. However, I have a problem with this:

"There's no way to go to every fire and keep up the manpower, the equipment, and just the funding for the fire department," Mayor David Crocker said.

Lying asswipe. The FD actually goes out to the house to make sure it doesn't spread to other (protected) homes. Don't talk about not being able to do something when you clearly do it already.

 

[ShaneEnochs]

Fire subscription fee? Wtf is that? We have VOLUNTEER firefighters. Though I wish they were paid, it says a lot that someone is willing to risk their life to save another for nothing.

 

[Rothbardian Girl]

lol this is dumb. Just bill them afterwards?

 

[Stupified]

Fire subscription fee? Wtf is that? We have VOLUNTEER firefighters. Though I wish they were paid, it says a lot that someone is willing to risk their life to save another for nothing.

We also have paid firefighters. Firefighting is a job just like anything else; it's not charity work.

lol this is dumb. Just bill them afterwards?

I believe their logic last time was "if we allow this guy to pay us afterward, no one will bother to get the insurance."

 

[gerryb]

lol this is dumb. Just bill them afterwards?

There are what, 10 fires a year?

Please show me a fire department that can run on $750 a year.

You could charge them for the actual cost plus premium after the fact, but then your into court battles to recover the claim etc.

 

[ShaneEnochs]

We also have paid firefighters. Firefighting is a job just like anything else; it's not charity work.

When I said "we", I meant my community. I never said firefighting wasn't a job, nor did I say it's charity work.

 

[UtahApocalypse]

Good for the city!!

 

[emazur]

lol this is dumb. Just bill them afterwards?

If I recall, the last time this happened the firemen stood by and watched it burn down even after the home owner said he would pay the FULL cost

 

[Perry]

This has happened multiple times in my town of 20,000. The thing is if you let people off the hook then EVERYONE starting slacking on payments.

 

[QueenB4Liberty]

wow. You'd think this wouldn't happen again after the last time.

 

[ronpaulfollower999]

Bell and her boyfriend admitted they were aware but thought this would never happen to them.

In a free society people are allowed to take that kind of risk. $75 really isn't that much money.

 

[Verrater]

This is morally defunct on the firefighters part. They don't have to help and shouldn't be required to but what they did was clearly immoral.

 

[Philhelm]

What about neighbor's? I wouldn't want the house next to me to burn to the ground because my neighbor didn't pay the fee. What about property values because of such?

If the fire department arrives at the scene and blatantly waits for the house to burn down, I consider that to be immoral.

 

[AlexG]

What about neighbor's? I wouldn't want the house next to me to burn to the ground because my neighbor didn't pay the fee. What about property values because of such?

If the fire department arrives at the scene and blatantly waits for the house to burn down, I consider that to be immoral.

I don't think they drove up just to watch it burn they were probably there to make sure it didnt spread.

 

[nobody's_hero]

If I recall, the last time this happened the firemen stood by and watched it burn down even after the home owner said he would pay the FULL cost

The problem is that you have things called "unconscionable" contracts in which a person under duress can claim that he was not in any condition to be signing any contracts. The fire department doesn't want to be making negotiations with the victim while the victim's home is burning down, because the victim can later say, "oh, yeah, I signed that contract but I was under a lot of stress at the time and I feel like the fire department took advantage of me in my moment of crisis." Lawyers love that shit.

The best policy is to view the fee like insurance and be ready in advance.

 

[roho76]

This is morally defunct on the firefighters part. They don't have to help and shouldn't be required to but what they did was clearly immoral.

Apply this same logic to car insurance. I know they didn't pay for car insurance but the insurance company should just pay for the damages anyway, anything else is immoral.

Some people choose to learn using the brick wall method. Don't be so cheap. It's only $75 for insurance on your $100,000 + home. It's ridiculous to not pay it and then expect someone else to risk their life over something you're not even willing to pay $75 for.

 

[Elwar]

A place I used to live gave us the option. Either pay $20 per month for the insurance or they had a set schedule of fees for the service. A maximum of $2,000 for a full house fire.

I opted to not pay, betting that the years in fees were higher than the risk of a fire, which they said the insurance company would usually pay anyway.

As an aside...it is actually smarter to let your house burn to the ground than try to save it after a fire. Rebuilding from scratch with the full insurance reimbursement is a lot easier and cheaper than trying to fix a house with smoke damage and fire damage. Not to mention the resale hit.

 

[Schifference]

Fire departments should have 3 shifts. Workers should be awake and alert all the time. Should not get paid to sleep. With that said. Fire Department should not be funded by taxpayer dollars. Could be private entity. The cost of extinguishing a fire should be included in a home owners policy so homeowners insurance would pay for the fire firedepartment fees based on reasonable customary charges.