Mat-Su cabin burns down and fire dept would not respond! (Ketchikan: car insurance, lawyers)

[roadfamily6now]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

He was OUTSIDE the fire service area. If he had been INSIDE the area he would have been covered.

Maybe that is where I am confused. Delta is a heck of a lot larger (geographically speaking) then Palmer.
So he was outside ALL fire service areas, including the volunteer department?

[gobrien]

I think Delta is less concerned with red tape and more concerned overall with doing the right thing. As you have experienced yourself, many people there really care about their neighbors and work together as a team.

[Marty Van Diest]

He was outside all fire service areas.

Here, people vote on whether they want fire service. If they do not want fire service, they don't get it. If there were lives at stake the fire department would have fought the fire.

The "right thing" is to fight the fires where people have decided that they want to pay for fire service and not fight the fires where people do not want fire service.

Obviously the line has to be drawn and the right thing is to the line exactly where the people want the line drawn. It's not red tape, its doing the right thing.

[gobrien]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

He was outside all fire service areas.

Here, people vote on whether they want fire service. If they do not want fire service, they don't get it. If there were lives at stake the fire department would have fought the fire.

The "right thing" is to fight the fires where people have decided that they want to pay for fire service and not fight the fires where people do not want fire service.

Obviously the line has to be drawn and the right thing is to the line exactly where the people want the line drawn. It's not red tape, its doing the right thing.

I agree with you, I just phrased my comment poorly. I didn't mean to disparage the Mat-Su fire protection system. I am kind of amazed at how Delta does stuff like EMT and fire response. Most (if not all) of the people that respond to medical emergencies are volunteers, they spend a lot of time helping others. It's really awe-inspiring.

[Marty Van Diest]

I'm not sure how far outside of Delta you would have to be to be outside the volunteer service area. The more rural you get, the less formalized the fire service is until at some point there is none.

Our house burned to the ground when I was a kid. The whole village helped in the bucket brigade. But there was no water, only snow to use. Of course there was no fire service, just neighbors helping neighbors at the most basic level.

[roadfamily6now]

you guys are right. I guess what disturbs me the most is that this guy was just 1/2 mile from the "line"
what? did the firemen just stand there and watch? It would be like a doctor not responding to a call because he was not licensed in that state.

Of course, in a perfect world this homeowner would have been aware of this BEFORE his house burnt.

[Marty Van Diest]

Originally Posted by roadfamily6now

you guys are right. I guess what disturbs me the most is that this guy was just 1/2 mile from the "line"
what? did the firemen just stand there and watch? It would be like a doctor not responding to a call because he was not licensed in that state.

Of course, in a perfect world this homeowner would have been aware of this BEFORE his house burnt.

The line has to be the line, otherwise, what does it mean? Everybody within 1/2 mile of a fire service area is protected even if they don't pay for it? But people 1 mile away from the service area are not?

[Barkingowl]

Well if the homeowner knew that he was outside the fire service area I'd have thought that he would've had a fire pond & extinguishers in every room at the very least.

[Marty Van Diest]

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

Well if the homeowner knew that he was outside the fire service area I'd have thought that he would've had a fire pond & extinguishers in every room at the very least.

I don't know if he knew he was outside the area or not. He did have every opportunity of putting it out but had no means to do so. He had no fire extinguisher and did not even have a bucket of water. He had a squirt bottle with a little mist in it. It was the squirt bottle that pushed the air onto the embers and started them on fire. So his attempt to put out the embers actually started the fire. It's kind of sad but can't be blamed on anyone else.

I have two large extinguishers in my house. I have had to use both of them twice to put out large grass/brush fires started by two different neighbors that were threatening my house.

I recommend that everyone have at least one LARGE fire extinguisher on every floor of their home. It's amazing how much fire you can put out with a good fire extinguisher.

A decent extinguisher would have saved our house when I was a kid and would have saved his. I had a similar situation to this guys when a smoke alarm went off. I looked all over for the cause until I noticed that a pile of wood about 2 feet from the wood stove in the cellar was glowing red...needless to say I grabbed the fire extinguisher asap.

Most important thing to learn here is be prepared to put out your own fires even if you do live in a fire service area.

[Lakester]

Marty has good advice for all not living next door to a fire / rescue unit.

You are the first line of defence to save your property.

I have 2 extinguishers in kitchen area, 2 in basement, 1 in bedroom and one upstairs and of course alarms on each level. OH and 1 in the truck also.