Tennessee Firemen ignore burning house over unpaid subscription fee

[dsntslp]

I admit I have not read the thread...I can't.

My father is still alive and is having a fit!

He was Asst. Chief of the FD in our very small town until they went PAID!

End of question.

 

[LinasK]

I have been watching and reading about this situation for days and it seems so simple to me. As a citizen of my country and my community and my neighorhood - regardless of where one lives - put the fire out first and deal with who owes what later.

There could have been an elderly or disabled person at that address OR children. Maybe not residents but there to visit or in need. Innocent people not in control or aware of finances. And, add the damage to the neighbors or forests and community of those who have paid. This is a very poor judgment call by the officials of that area.

I shudder to think that emergency responders have to check my paid or tax status before they respond to my need. Is it possible that at times computer systems are down or not up to date? Or, there are input errors and we have to make trips to an office to confirm our paid status?

Bottom line, the emergency responders should be able to do their job and the fianancial people can sort out the rest later. If someone did not pay for their fire proctection - bill them later. IF someone refused to pay - or couldn't pay - charge them the full amount of the firefighters, hourly wage plus overtime, gas for the trucks, water, etc. Their bill could increase from $75. for a year to to several thousand for one incident.

It would be a bargain to those who lose everything in a fire.

Excellent post and welcome to Websleuths!!!:clap::clap::clap:

 

[Nova]

I'm sorry, but Firefighters must do what their bosses say. Their lives and the lives of fellow firefighters depend on following orders. That is why they follow the military command. Firefighters follow orders, period. If you chose not to 'create' what your boss wants the most that could happen is you get fired. For a firefighter, it could mean someones gets hurt or killed.

Maybe this incident will rally the county to start a volunteer dept.

Well, I agree with this much. I am not blaming the firefighters for following orders.

 

[Nova]

The owner has stated it wasn't because he didn't have the money, he forgot:

http://firecritic.com/2010/10/south-fulton-firefighters-let-the-house-burn-you-get-what-you-pay-for/

There's been a lot of talk about "consequences" here and I'm not opposed to people learning life lessons. But watching your home burn down along with your animals is an awfully high "consequence" to pay for forgetfulness, something of which we are all guilty from time to time.

The simple solution is for the county to provide fire protection (contracted out to the city if that is most cost-efficient) and tax county residents appropriately to pay for the coverage.

And if somebody forgets to pay his taxes, there are legal remedies for that. They are far more reasonable than the loss of a home and the death of four animals.

We really need to stop treating essential services as if they were optional consumer purchases.

It's one thing to forget to buy new shoes and have to make do with the old ones. It's quite another to lose everything because your county government decides to leave things to the "free market" rather than doing its job.

 

[cbanning]

I agree whole heartedly with that Nova. Let's move on from the blame and change the policy!

 

[goddess]

I see both sides of this. I feel really sorry for these folks, unfotunately i went through a house fire it is devastating.

That said, being of questioning nature, my first thoughts went to insurance fraud.

Not saying that is what they did, but the system of pay or you do not get coverage could really be abused in our declining economy and our state of affairs in the housing market.

That is the second thing I thought of when I heard this tale, now everyone knows how to get our from under their burden if they are behind in their rent, what an easy out if they can pull off a housefire that doesnt look like arson.

Then I want to address the consequence thing. The people simply forgot, and while that is a shame, I believe in consequences, but feel they should have come in the form of financial not literal. What a shame this happened.

I then will end (or not I can be long winded) on the firefighters, and those who claim you would throw bosses orders to the wind in this situation and fight that fire anyway.

How noble. I bet your children and wif will appreciate that when you get fired for your insubordination, and become homeless and go hungry due to your nobleness.

In this iffy job market, for God's sake how can anyone blame these poor men? They had no choice!

This is an intersting case, and like another poster upthread just said, I hope this Tennessee community reassesses their situation, and tries to come up with another system that offers protection for all, and consequences other than losing everything you own, for this type of situation.

I am sad about the pets, that is awful to hear.

 

[fundiva]

I don't know why everyone wants to blame the firefighters. My guess would be that the call was taken by a dispatcher who looks up on their computer whether the fees have been paid and whether they should dispatch a unit. It is my understanding the firefighters were only there because the fire had spread to the neighbor's property, and he had paid his fee. By the time they would have arrived to assist the neighbor the first property would have been beyond saving, as would the animals.

Also, to address the issue about $75 maybe being an amount they couldn't afford. They had four pets. If they couldn't afford $75 a year, they would have had to get rid of their pets which certainly cost more than that a year.

 

[LinasK]

why should they be allowed to pay on the spot? I'll try that with Geico, not pay my insurance premium and if I have a wreck call them and see what they say when I tell them I didn't pay my yearly bill but I'll pay them on the spot since my car is totaled.

Because it's not the same thing as insurance, that's why! And the fire department could have recouped their costs- which is what their bottom line reason for not putting it out was!:furious::furious::furious:

 

[cbanning]

At what cost to the department though? If the homeowner 'forgot' to pay the $75, what makes you so sure he would follow through with reimbursing the department? I'm sure I would promise the moon in that moment. As the poster earlier wrote, I'm sure by the time the firemen got there it was a lost cause anyway.

 

[Nova]

At what cost to the department though? If the homeowner 'forgot' to pay the $75, what makes you so sure he would follow through with reimbursing the department? I'm sure I would promise the moon in that moment. As the poster earlier wrote, I'm sure by the time the firemen got there it was a lost cause anyway.

I don't see how we can assume the house was a "lost cause" when the FD arrived. None of the reports I've seen have said any such thing.

The bigger financial issue is that the city FD has to prepare to defend a certain number of people. If there are 20,000 people in the city (covered by city taxes) and 10,000 people in the county who pay the $75, then let's say the FD needs 4 trucks and 30 firefighters to cover 30,000 people and their homes.

But if all 50,000 people in the county (in addition to the 20,000 in the city) are to be covered, the FD needs 8 trucks and 50 firefighters to cover 70,000 people and their homes. Allowing county folks to wait and pay only when they have a fire doesn't fund the equipment and manpower the FD needs to cover the necessary area.

I hope it's clear all these numbers, except the $75 charge, are entirely made up by me. I have no idea what the actual costs are, how many people live in the county, how many firefighters are needed to cover the territory, etc.

But the principle is clear; the FD can't afford the resources necessary to defend everyone if only those who actually have a fire pay the fee (whether individually or through taxes).

This is why making firefighting a pay-as-you-go system is a bad idea: either you will end up with tragedies such as this one, or the FD will go bankrupt trying to provide coverage for people who aren't paying the required fee.

 

[LinasK]

Because it's not the same thing as insurance, that's why! And the fire department could have recouped their costs- which is what their bottom line reason for not putting it out was!:furious::furious::furious:

We pay for actual Fire Insurance- separate from what comes out of our taxes for firefighting. Fire Insurance is paid to the insurance companies. This homeowner wasn't a case of burning down his house to collect the insurance...

 

[keeponsearching]

This is disturbing. They need to change things.