Firefighters watched a house burn down

[SoonerDVM]

It amazes me that the majority of this board bitches and moans about welfare, food stamps, and Obama Care, but get all riled up when this happens. Its the exact same thing. Nothing is free, nor should it be. These folks have every right to form their own community volunteer fire department, yet many choose to utilize the services offered. Those who dont, expect a free lunch anyway.

Exactly.

I wonder how many would be going on about honor and decency if he had a ruptured appendix and no insurance. Instead of a fire and no fire protection fee.

Either we should do what's right because it's right or we should let all the freeloaders take what they get.

 

[liliysdad]

Not the same.

They were present to protect life and safety. They refused to protect property, a non necessity.

 

[cjjtulsa]

Exactly.

I wonder how many would be going on about honor and decency if he had a ruptured appendix and no insurance. Instead of a fire and no fire protection fee.

Either we should do what's right because it's right or we should let all the freeloaders take what they get.

I'd be saying the same thing about any doctor that would let him die in the ER from a ruptured appendix because he had no health coverage. Patch him up and bill his arse for it - yes, nothing is free. Letting him die in the waiting room is acceptable? Basic human decency shouldn't carry a price tag.

My wife would be startled at my responses to this thread, as I'm typically an anti-social guy who isn't a fan of most humans. Defending the humanist angle puts me in an awkward position.....

 

[SMS]

It's simple - you bill the guy for services rendered, and at a rate much, much higher than the initial $75.

It's not really that simple...if there is no legal mechanism in place for that municipality to levy after-the-fact charges against the homeowner outside of their jurisdiction.

Despite the attached nobility and halo of sacrifice and service, fireman, like everyone else in public service, provide a service for a fee . If people stop paying the fee, then there is no way to provide public service.

I'm sure the firemen on the scene would not have hesitated one second if there had been a life at stake....but why should they risk their own lives to save the property of an individual who did not respect them enough to pay a paltry $75 a year to ensure the continuity of the service they provide?

 

[jbarnett]

Where do you people get the freeloader crap?
He had always paid the fee and I don't see where it says why he didn't pay it this time. Maybe he forgot or it was overlooked or lost in the mail or maybe he just didn't want to. When he called 911 the article says he offered to pay all expenses related to the Fire Department's defense of his home, but the South Fulton firefighters refused to do anything. Why didn't they just charge him $1k or $2k dollars after the fact? There are numerous better ways of handling it than the way they did.

 

[jbarnett]

It's not really that simple...if there is no legal mechanism in place for that municipality to levy after-the-fact charges against the homeowner outside of their jurisdiction.

Despite the attached nobility and halo of sacrifice and service, fireman, like everyone else in public service, provide a service for a fee . If people stop paying the fee, then there is no way to provide public service.

I'm sure the firemen on the scene would not have hesitated one second if there had been a life at stake....but why should they risk their own lives to save the property of an individual who did not respect them enough to pay a paltry $75 a year to ensure the continuity of the service they provide?

That is the way our volunteer dept works, or the way it was last time we had a grass fire. They bill us or our insurance if they come out. They could have done the same thing.

 

[SMS]

That is the way our volunteer dept works, or the way it was last time we had a grass fire. They bill us or our insurance if they come out. They could have done the same thing.

If they had that mechanism in place before the fire sure....but you can't just whip up policy/legal mechanism after the fact.

They had a simple system in place...pay $75 and get fire protection. Doesn't get much easier than that....why should they have to develop policy to fit every single resident's desires?

 

[liliysdad]

I just dont comprehend how this is that difficult an idea to grasp.

The department had zero obligation to act. It was outside of their service area, and not part of the subscribed area. They responded anyway, in order to protect life and limb.

What they did not do is risk their safety, and their equipment to save property not under contract for service. Again, they had no obligation, legal, moral, or other, to do anything more than protect life and safety.

Look at it this way. You have a wreck, and your car is totaled. Its your only means of transportation, therefore livelihood. You have always, for twenty years, had insurance, but this time, you forgot to pay, or the bill got lost in the mail. Is the insurance company still on the hook to pay, because its the right thing? Of course not. This is absolutely no different.

Good luck collecting after the fact. This guy couldnt see clear to pay 75 bucks, you think hes going to get in a hurry to pay upwards of ten thousand bucks? What are they gonna do, put a lien on a burnt house?

 

[liliysdad]

That is the way our volunteer dept works, or the way it was last time we had a grass fire. They bill us or our insurance if they come out. They could have done the same thing.

And in Oklahoma, most counties pay some sort of tax disbursement to volunteer fire departments for operating expenses. Many states do not. When I lived in Missouri, the Volunteer department was subsidized in whole by membership fees, fundraisers, and donations.

 

[Rob72]

I could think up some scenario's but I won't!

But none that address the lack of personal responsibility on the homeowner's part.

The FD has a responsibility to the contributing members of the community (novel concept there, huh?) to maintain their equipment and provide service to those that pay for said equipment and service.

On a private level, if it was my neighbor, I might tap a plug (since I happen to have a 2" surplus line), but its unreasonable to expect professional risk on a free basis. We do enough of that crap with trauma care...

Either man-up, and install a 500-1000 gallon pressure tank and attach it to an in-house sprinkler system, or pay the $75/year for the priveledge of having someone risk their life & health (life, back, knees, shoulders) to preserve your possessions.