Cold Front

[Coldest]

(Oct. 6) -- A small rural community in western Tennessee is outraged and the fire chief is nursing a black eye after firefighters stood by and watched a mobile home burn to the ground because the homeowner hadn't paid a $75 municipal fee.


Now, that's Cold.

[Cripey2]

Pay to play!

[cpito]

I was outraged when I first heard this, then I got the WHOLE story.

Not cold, just very skewed. The problem is the the rural community in question had NO fie protection at all, NO ONE to respond to thier fires (ie: everyone's house burned to the ground if it caught fire) until a few years ago when the South Fulton FD offered them an OPT-IN fee because they felt bad that they otherwise couldn't respond. It is NOT a municiple fee. Without the opt-in fee, the community as a whole gives no support to the cost of maintaining the department. If the SFFD had gone ahead and put the fire out, what reason would any of the residents have for paying the $75 yearly opt-in?

It's a terrible situation but in the end SFFD was trying to do the right thing for people outside it's jurisdiction. If these people want guaranteed fire protection then they need to get thier asses together and find a way to make it happen.

[Gunga]

Does the iciest heart in Stormreach glisten with the sweaty shine of compassion?

[Coldest]

Does the iciest heart in Stormreach glisten with the sweaty shine of compassion?

Only when I'm with your Dad.

[Gunga]

Only when I'm with your Dad.

I'm telling.

[Yeric]

This story had me fired up. Yeah, okay he didn't pay his 75 bucks. Isn't he a member of the community? He and his family shop with the fire fighters families? Do the kids play together, go to school together. On Sunday do the families go to Church together? And yet they didn't roll on the initial call. Okay, the 75 bucks wasn't payed. I get that. When the fire dept had to answer the neighbors call due the the fire spreading, and they still let the house burn! Shame on everyone of those illegitimate spawn. A little compassion can go a long way.

A few years ago the Fairbanks fire dept answered a call to a house fire that was 55 miles outside their service area. -30 degrees and they gave it everything they had.

75 dollars wasn't paid. I understand that. Now how much does the community have to pay to help out a homeless family?

And I checked, and was surprised, this wasn't the same community that ran Ryan White out of town.

[Cripey2]

This story had me fired up. Yeah, okay he didn't pay his 75 bucks. Isn't he a member of the community? He and his family shop with the fire fighters families? Do the kids play together, go to school together. On Sunday do the families go to Church together? And yet they didn't roll on the initial call. Okay, the 75 bucks wasn't payed. I get that. When the fire dept had to answer the neighbors call due the the fire spreading, and they still let the house burn! Shame on everyone of those illegitimate spawn. A little compassion can go a long way.

A few years ago the Fairbanks fire dept answered a call to a house fire that was 55 miles outside their service area. -30 degrees and they gave it everything they had.

75 dollars wasn't paid. I understand that. Now how much does the community have to pay to help out a homeless family?

And I checked, and was surprised, this wasn't the same community that ran Ryan White out of town.

Guy bet on not having a fire and saving 75$, looks like he bet wrong.

[chester99]

my favorite part of the story is how the fire started: see, they were burning some trash outside and that got out of hand...

really, any time you start a story "we were burning some trash", you're about to fill your audience with win.

[delicious.crab]

Important to bear in mind here that there would be NO fire service for ANYONE if there weren't the agreement to pay $75 for it. There's something to be said for charity, and it's right to consider the cost to the community in the form of the newly-homeless family. But ultimately I get the sneaky feeling that
1.) These people didn't really think there'd ever be a fire
2.) They thought that in the unlikely event there was, the FD would come out in the spirit of charity and take care of things.

I seem to recall as well that they had NEVER paid the fee and had a chimney fire put out (gratis) by the same FD a year or so ago.

Moral Hazard, people. Moral. F'n. Hazard.

EDIT:
As to how much cost the community "has" to bear on behalf of the newly-homeless family, well, that's an interesting question, too. Does it "have" to bear these costs, or is it merely (as I suspect) "going" to? I'm stopping before I get started too much here.

[Dandonk]

This makes very little sense to a Dane like me, but I'll take your word for it that this is how it works in the US.

[delicious.crab]

This makes very little sense to a Dane like me, but I'll take your word for it that this is how it works in the US.

Actually, this setup is usually only found in rural area. It is certainly the exception to the rule. (I think its somewhat more common with police.)

[Dandonk]

Actually, this setup is usually only found in rural area. It is certainly the exception to the rule. (I think its somewhat more common with police.)

Ah, ok, I guess this makes a little more sense. Denmark is a very small country, so "rural" here is a lot less rural, as it were. I guess you'll have to do things differently in as large a country as the US.

[Coldest]

Guy bet on not having a fire and saving 75$, looks like he bet wrong.

Wonder if he'd roll me d100 for plat...?

[cpito]

This story had me fired up. Yeah, okay he didn't pay his 75 bucks. Isn't he a member of the community? No He and his family shop with the fire fighters families? only if they all shop at the superwalmart 2 towns over Do the kids play together, go to school together.No On Sunday do the families go to Church together? prob'ly not And yet they didn't roll on the initial call. Okay, the 75 bucks wasn't payed. I get that. When the fire dept had to answer the neighbors call due the the fire spreading, and they still let the house burn! Shame on everyone of those illegitimate spawn. A little compassion can go a long way. A little compassion can become cost prohibitive after the 3rd or 4th fire then there's no compassion left for anyone
A few years ago the Fairbanks fire dept answered a call to a house fire that was 55 miles outside their service area. -30 degrees and they gave it everything they had. very good for Fairbanks FD. Bet there are a whole lot more people living in rural Tennessee than rural Alaska
75 dollars wasn't paid. I understand that. Now how much does the community have to pay to help out a homeless family? As someone else said. the community doesnt have to do anything. It could easily be asked: why didn't the community help when the fire was burning?
And I checked, and was surprised, this wasn't the same community that ran Ryan White out of town.

answers in red

[Yeric]

For our Dane. In the 1700's Ben Franklin started the first American Fire Dept in Philadelphia. This was a fee area as well. You paid your insurance and the insurance company would put their mark on the property. So if a fire broke out and there was no mark the Fire Department would stand there and watch it burn to the ground. And if that was all that happened, then all was right with the world. What the insurance companies discovered was If a fire that was big enough to spread to a property that had the "mark of insurance ", it might be to big to put out. Costing them plenty. So..in their wisdom they moved the fighting of fires from the business side of the insurance companies to the services side of the City. Where they all paid taxes to support the fire dept and they all benefited. Taxes HAVE to be paid. Fees, not so much.

Where I live we have service areas. Everybody that lives with in the service area is taxed for fire and ambulance services. Police is State and comes under a different cost/payment arrangement. Those outside the service are not taxed. However. When they call for help, it is answered. If there is a call in progress for inside the service area it is first on the priority list. Unless it is a life in danger type of call. Once a service is rendered outside the service area a bill is NOT sent.

This is done due to the fact that our fire department all receive funding from sources outside of just taxes. Some are in the form of State or Federal grants. So EVERYBODY should have access to services.

So here in Alaska we have Coast Guard helos plucking sick people from ships. National Park Ranger helos plucking climbers off of mountains. National Guard medics volunteering to make a night jump from a C-130 into a village with wind speeds along the ground in excess of 30 knots. Firemen that drive 50 miles past their area to fight fires in freezing temperatures.

Yeah, we have it all. When Life Happens, Somebody will be coming for you. Man for Man, That Somebody is a real life Tough Guy.

[harold2560]

i dont understand how a fire fighter could stand by and watch someones house burn down and do nothing regardless of money.

of course they should have paid their part but still, a guys house is burning down, a devastating impact on someones life and they with the power to step in and maybe help stand by and watch over 75 bucks? lame.

[AyumiAmakusa]

EDIT: Removed because my opinions make me sound like an uncaring jerk.

[Samadhi]

All of these responses are humorous, especially the contradictory ones. Please remember that the world is maya, and we have nothing to worry about. Then such trifling concerns (either for the sad state of bad firefighters or the sad state of bad country folk abusing the system) can all be set aside as immaterial, and we can all move on as one towards what is really important.

[Pape_27]

<snip>
The same could be said for hospitals. Hundreds of people everyday are refused treatment in hospitals because they do not have money/insurance to cover the costs. Should they be treated without paying?


I feel sorry for the family because they have lost their home but I think that it was a necessary message that needed to be sent out to the people.

The message isn't 'Pay up or we'll let your house burn'. It's 'We need you to pay so we can afford to protect your house from fire'.

A hospital cannot refuse to treat a person because they cannot pay.


The message the fire department sent was not a "necessary" messgae. It was the wrong message. The person in question offered to cover the entire cost of the operation if they put out the fire. That alone sends the message that it is better to pay the annual fee versus a service call charge whicj could cpst thousands of dollars.

What they did was completely unacceptable. That you cannot see that is mind boggling.

and No, i dont believe you really do feel sorry for those people. If you did you wouldnt have written the drivel that you did.




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