Tennessee Firemen ignore burning house over unpaid subscription fee

The Telegraph ^ | 10/3/2010 | Jon Swaine

[B4Ranch]

This is not a racket. It is called being self reliant. You pay the $75 fire fee and your house is covered for the year. It’s the same as buying car insurance.

[ErnBatavia]

I'm 63 now, so admittedly behind the curve.

This "let it burn because they didn't buy a ticket" is beyond me....I'm really, really glad I'm not 25 anymore. My prostate gland may not work, but my brain still does.

Life in 2010 is approaching suckitude. I pity my grandkids. Phockitol.

[Crim]

Well said....

[B4Ranch]

You are referring to Senator Plunkitt aren’t you?

[Joan Kerrey]

City people don’t know how to live ‘country’......and sometimes they’re not willing to learn.

Their mentality is that all services are free all the time, 24/7. They’ve never been exposed to country life.

It appears however that the $75.00 fee notice was quite clear and the owners of the property chose not to participate. They made the decision to gamble, not the town.

[dragnet2]

This "let it burn because they didn't buy a ticket" is beyond me....I'm really, really glad I'm not 25 anymore.

Welcome to the new America...

Pay up or we'll watch your place burn to the ground, and we don't care if disabled grandma is in the backroom....

Ya shoulda paid the 75 bucks!

((wow))

[max americana]

So what’s the cop rate in case my house is robbed?

[MrEdd]

Well said.

[Grizzled Bear]

The government is a substitute for gangs running your life. If the gov doesn't then a gang will step in and fill the vacuum. Government needs to be strong enough to shut down gangs and weak enough to be less demanding than the gang would be on the citizen.

That works if you're a sheep. Men prefer to run their own lives.

[dragnet2]

City people don’t know how to live ‘country’......and sometimes they’re not willing to learn.

I don't live in the city, but I'm sure in hell glad I don't live in that "country". No thanks.

Allow their fellow citizens home burn to the ground when they could have helped out?

Nice respectable country folks ya got out there.

:o

[crazyhorse691]

I got a couple of divergent thoughts on this; 1. If you are arrears in your property taxes can a governing body refuse services dependent on tax money?; 2. I have wasted a huge amount of money keeping homeowners insurance in force for over 35 years and never had to file a claim, so, is that a prudent reason to cancel the policy? After all, most renters don't have renters insurance and times are hard and money is short and and cable went up $10 a month blah blah blah.
The above examples are hypothetical and are not representative of my real life.

[LachlanMinnesota]

$75.00 for a subscription fee is not even half of my weekly grocery allowance for my family, and these people demand that the fire department is in the wrong?

I’ll bet lots of these demands for free service could be paid for with the equivalent of a couple weekends of beer money.

[headstamp 2]

What if someone was still in the building? Would they simply stand there because the fee wasn’t paid?

[fortheDeclaration]

Put out the fire and then send them a bill!

[MV=PY]

The fire company should have extinguished the fire if the owners agreed to pay cost+ on site.

They were right there. They could have
1. prevented the destruction of a significant asset,
2. reduced risk to the neighboring houses, and
3. made a profit.

[ThomasThomas]

I would agree to that. I don’t how the laws works in that area.

[B4Ranch]

Cops don’t have to show up if your house is robbed. Many cities consider such an event as something that doesn’t require an officer on scene unless the criminals are still on site.

[CodeToad]

“Why should these guys have any greater obligation than we do?”

I’m not a firefighter that was given equipment and training to do so.

[CodeToad]

The government is not a commercial enterprise. It represents all people equally. This idea of pay-for-play government is nothing bully tactics of a government monopoly.

[max americana]

>His wife said the couple had offered to pay the fire fighters whatever was necessary for them to extinguish the flames, but the officers refused.
****

so why did the “firemen” refuse?