Tennessee house in ashes after homeowner 'forgot' to pay $75 fee (Knoxville: taxes, living)

[NJDevil]

didn't hear that hiknapster, I guess now the family has to shell out more money to get him out of jail?

I don't know how the men in that fire dept can sleep at night. They will continue to praise Jesus and be accepted as good Christians. I feel taking Jesus's name in vain applies to actions too. Too bad they don't believe in karma.

[beachmouse]

Originally Posted by WOWAddict

Actually it is rather easy to put a lien on a house. My father-in-law has had to do it with his lawn business. But like you said after all is said in done it costs him more to go through the hassle then what he will get in return.

It's actually frequently much harder and complicated under law for the government to lien a property than it is for a private party or HOA to lien it because of long-standing laws designed to prevent government abuse of power.

As for pets, indications are that the homeowner had a fair amount of time to clear the house of pets and humans before the burn barrel fire spread that way, and for whatever reason didn't.

[brentwoodgirl]

Originally Posted by NJDevil

didn't hear that hiknapster, I guess now the family has to shell out more money to get him out of jail?

I don't know how the men in that fire dept can sleep at night. They will continue to praise Jesus and be accepted as good Christians. I feel taking Jesus's name in vain applies to actions too. Too bad they don't believe in karma.

Fire chief required 140 stitches after getting beat up by the grandson. Grandson absolutely should have been arrested for that assault.
He started the fire- took 2 hours for fire to reach the house. He didn't save the animals. And then beat up the fire chief the next day. This was the 4th fire at this house in 10 years. These people are not blameless, innocent people in this fiasco.
Everyone has some blame to share. Hopefully the county will find a way to provide fire protection for everyone.

[mtneer]

I'm not saying that what the grandson did is right but it doesn't change the fact that the firefighter creeps allowed animals to burn up alive. How would any of you like to have endured what the poor animals lived through those final few minutes? The firefighters are just as CRUEL and MORAL-LESS NON HUMANS as the grandson who supposedly started the fire. All those firefighters need to be banned forever from firefighting and also tried in court under animal cruelty laws. They didn't do their job. I just hope the police dept isn't that cruel but it wouldn't be surprised if they were.

Those creeps are sorry excuses for firefighters, public servants and even more so sorry excuses for men. Its terrifying to know they would have let a baby burn to death in there too.

[peppermint]

"The firefighters had been ordered not to intervene to save the Cranick's house -- even though they were already at the scene -- because, apparently, it would have encouraged others not to pay the $75."

Obion County Fire Tragedy Symbolizes Tea-Party-Republican Vision of Government - Huffington Post, October 7, 2010

How about dropping the firefighter hate talk? It's reminiscent of the hate talk soldiers receive for following orders. You deal with the people issuing the orders, if you don't like the orders.

Another article from yesterday says that " 'You can't blame them if they have to do what the boss says to do,' Cranick told The Associated Press. 'I've had firemen call and apologize.' "

[skinem]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Has anyone else read where the son of this guy went down to the station and popped the fire chief in the nose and was subsequently arrested?

Yeah, I both read that and heard it on the radio...

...and as far as "letting animals burn to death"...when I was in a fire department we would gladly save animals if we could do so without bringing harm to ourselves. Otherwise, no animal's life is worth that of any person. Our chief made those hard calls...the truly hard ones are when you know there are people involved.

As far as most rural deparments are concerned...anyone who pictures trucks rolling up and men jumping out, rushing in to save someone at a window of a burning house has seen too much tv. Many, if not most (please notice I said most, not every) rural fire calls are far enough away from the station (and response time is even longer if it is a volunteer department) that when the units arrive, the place is often fully involved and often, unfortunately, if anyone is inside, it is too late for them. I couldn't tell you the last time I heard of a rural district in southern middle Tn or northern Alabama that rescued a person from a burning building. I have heard of it, but not recently. What you hear most often in rural areas when someone is saved from a burning building, it is usually by a passer-by or a neighbor.
The saying for police often goes for firefighters--when seconds count, they are only minutes away.

[marmac]

Originally Posted by skinem

Yeah, I both read that and heard it on the radio...

...and as far as "letting animals burn to death"...when I was in a fire department we would gladly save animals if we could do so without bringing harm to ourselves. Otherwise, no animal's life is worth that of any person. Our chief made those hard calls...the truly hard ones are when you know there are people involved.

As far as most rural deparments are concerned...anyone who pictures trucks rolling up and men jumping out, rushing in to save someone at a window of a burning house has seen too much tv. Many, if not most (please notice I said most, not every) rural fire calls are far enough away from the station (and response time is even longer if it is a volunteer department) that when the units arrive, the place is often fully involved and often, unfortunately, if anyone is inside, it is too late for them. I couldn't tell you the last time I heard of a rural district in southern middle Tn or northern Alabama that rescued a person from a burning building. I have heard of it, but not recently. What you hear most often in rural areas when someone is saved from a burning building, it is usually by a passer-by or a neighbor.
The saying for police often goes for firefighters--when seconds count, they are only minutes away.

So very true !

[NY Annie]

Originally Posted by mtneer

I'm not saying that what the grandson did is right but it doesn't change the fact that the firefighter creeps allowed animals to burn up alive. How would any of you like to have endured what the poor animals lived through those final few minutes? The firefighters are just as CRUEL and MORAL-LESS NON HUMANS as the grandson who supposedly started the fire. All those firefighters need to be banned forever from firefighting and also tried in court under animal cruelty laws. They didn't do their job. I just hope the police dept isn't that cruel but it wouldn't be surprised if they were.

Those creeps are sorry excuses for firefighters, public servants and even more so sorry excuses for men. Its terrifying to know they would have let a baby burn to death in there too.

Do you even hear yourself? The fire was burning for TWO HOURS. WHO left the animals in the house for 2 hours BEFORE calling the fire dept? The firefighters? TWO HOURS. Stupid idiot only had to open the door to the house and the animals are smarter than he is and would have run out. How dare you vilify the fire personnel and NOT be calling the owner every name in the book for KILLING his OWN pets?!

[peppermint]

Whats more, the guy started the fire and left it unattended to take a shower. This does not rate high on the intelligence scale.

It does beg the question, as you said, NY Annie, if the people got out of the house, why didn't they take the pets with them or just leave the door open? Hello?!?

I was burning yesterday. I had a water hose and a rake with me, and when I want to go back into the house, I doused everything with water and waited until the smoke was gone. Even then, I look out my windows every few minutes just to check. Common sense.

The whole incident is a fiasco. There's plenty of blame to go around, but none of it rests on the firefighters, who were following orders.

[Kyle]

My question is, how come there haven't been any burn bans/restrictions issued recently? I honestly can't remember the last time it rained in recent weeks in Memphis or West TN in general.