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.
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