Posted on 12/06/2011 4:33:24 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
A Tennessee couple helplessly watched their home burn to the ground, along with all of their possessions, because they did not pay a $75 annual fee to the local fire department.
Vicky Bell told the NBC affiliate WPSD-TV that she called 911 when her mobile home in Obion County caught fire. Firefighters arrived on the scene but as the fire raged, they simply stood by and did nothing. "In an emergency, the first thing you think of, 'Call 9-1-1," homeowner Bell said.
However, Bell and her husband were forced to walk into the burning home in an attempt to retrieve their own belongings. "You could look out my mom's trailer and see the trucks sitting at a distance," Bell said. "We just wished we could've gotten more out."
South Fulton Mayor David Crocker defended the fire department, saying that if firefighters responded to non-subscribers, no one would have an incentive to pay the fee.
Residents in the city of South Fulton receive the service automatically, but it is not extended to those living in the greater county-wide area.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I guess they're Union firefighters.
They should have paid if they wanted the service.
No sympathy from me. If they don’t want to pay for the service then they should not receive it. Period.
It sounds like they responded. They just didn't do anything. Have to be pretty desperate for a $75 fee to use this approach.
Aren’t fire departments usually funded through taxes?
Or they were there to prevent the fire from reaching the paying customers...
The firefighters were probably there to make sure the fire didn’t spread to the home of a subscriber.
Union contract probably pays a bonus for going out on the call even if they don’t do anything.
I suppose they expect to be able to buy car insurance after they wreck their car, too?
Nah, waste of time. This has precedent that any lawyer would know about. They have no case because they didn't pay the fee. The firefighters showed up to keep it from spreading to the responsible homeowners.
So they want these guys to risk their lives to put out their fire, but they dont want to pay them?
I agree completely. And you think that they would have learned a less from last year, also in Obion County. "No tickee, no washee" was the way I was raised in my Conservative home.
Old story , why is it being brought up again? Short story, folks didn’t want fire protection until after their house caught fire. They offered to pay the $75 on the spot. Too late, tough squat
That’s just cruel. Taunting to poor folks. If you aren’t prepared to help just don’t show.
Would have been smarter to put out the fire and bill them $5,000 for the service. Somebody isn’t thinking.
$75 a year for the fire dept. sounds like a bargain - we donate four times that to our local volunteers every Christmas.
Right, so you think the $75 covers the Fire Departments expenses. Not a single tax dollar supports them? So the things you expect your tax dollars to cover, they don't. But they sure will go to political payoff, LGBT education, cow farts....... But hell no to the Fire Department. The $75 is a pseudo tax, just like all the various fees we now have to pay at every city, county, state.... They are all just taxes on top of taxes we already pay. Government needs to cut the crap they pay for and just provide basic services, like, oh....I don't know, oh yea, putting out fires.
THis is idiotic. If they didn’t pay their fee charge them $1000. If they saved their house I’m sure they’d be glad to pay. Waste of everyone’s time and money.
I do not know what to say....
I was a volunteer fireman in my small west Tennessee town.
There was no fee for service, but my last activity was over fifteen years ago.
I just can not imagine watching a home burn and not doing anything to save it.
Surely there would be other options for payment in such situations.
>>It sounds like they responded. They just didn’t do anything. Have to be pretty desperate for a $75 fee to use this approach.<<
I hate to sound callous, but think of this more on the order of flood insurance. If a flood happens and you didn’t get around to buying flood insurance, you can’t really get mad at the Allstate guy.
I am sure the FD showed up to keep it from spreading.
You get what you pay for. In this case zero buys a lot of nothing, just like in real life.
Apparently this is a city FD that offers service outside the city by annual contract for a mere $75.
Residents in the city of South Fulton receive the service automatically, but it is not extended to those living in the greater county-wide area.
Was this news last year or is this another incident by the South Fulton Fire Department?
Welcome to Pay/Go....
.... got all kinds of responses for the angle of rotation, if you chose the type of SCREW.....
Ditto !
“Aren’t fire departments usually funded through taxes?”
Nope. In a lot of rural areas fire protection comes from either purely volunteer fire departments or from professional fire companies. A fire company being a private business that provides a service local government is unable to provide for whatever reason. Not much different than a private garbage service, really, that handles garbage removal for those who pay for it unlike in New York City where the municipal garbage service tends not to provide services to those who pay for it.
“I guess they’re Union firefighters”
Nope they’re volunteers. It’s like insurance. You buy it before the fire or you’re not covered. This story is over a year old also, why is it being rehashed?
This is a new incident although in the same county where Gene Cranick's house burnt back in September 2010. And that's my point in the prior post. The homeowner should have learned from what happened last year since it happened in the same general vicinity.
Please read your tax bill....
Here’s what’s happening in a lot of towns. 90% of the real estate taxes are going to employee and retiree benefits. So they charge for the normal services extra. In my town they actually charge extra if there is a street light on your block.
The couple made the right choice by not paying the $75.00 per year to the fire department to simply protect a trailer house.
First, the homeowners insurance should cover much of the loss and second, the fire department would have likely not saved the trailer house from being destroyed even if they had put out the fire.
Do they pay taxes? If so, there should not be an additional fee. Isn’t that what taxes are supposedly payed for?
I am guessing that they would perform life saving service if required.
wow. stunning. both the lack of humanity and the statist drones believing that the gov’t won’t withhold their healthcare when the need it.
The family apparently didn’t think protection was worth $75.00 a year.
Looks like they may have miscalculated.
You are absolutely right.
I’d like to see our once great independent self reliant affluent middle class nation get greater. It ain’t happening today. Subsequent generations are doing worse. We’re fighting wars that don’t benefit us. Our products are made in China. Now we have a Post Office on the brink of bankruptcy, and fire fighters that don’t put out fires.
We can put the blame all over the map but that doesn’t fix it for our kids and grand kids. The fact is the USA is going downhill and that needs reversed now.
Sounds like this one is funded by city taxes and these people apparently lived outside the city. Thus the fee.
Did anyone check to see if the homeowners were Republicans?
Yep .
http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Firefighters-watch-as-home-burns-to-the-ground-104052668.html
I wonder if someone “important”, who’d “forgotten” to pay the fee would’ve been handled in the same way. Doubtful.
They showed up to make sure it did not spread to any subscribed dwellings. (And in case there was life at risk.)
My little town doesn’t have a fire department. The township pays for coverage from the surrounding towns that do have fire departments.
We have that here with the police. City residents pay the tax. Township didn’t and has to rely on the county sheriff department.
I guess the firemen (not fire fighters) in this town drive around and tell the people, “you sure got a nice trailer there. It would be a shame to see something happen to it.”
If you’re going to let the place burn because a fee wasn’t paid, then don’t taunt the victims by showing up at their home’s destruction and watching.
I'm sorry, but did the word volunteer change while I was asleep?
Right, so you think the $75 covers the Fire Departments expenses. Not a single tax dollar supports them?
Talking about 2 different counties.Folks in the county that pay the $75 fee are not taxpayers in the county with the closest fire department. They don’t pay a penny for the trucks that the volunteer fire department uses unless they subscribe
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