Tennessee house in ashes after homeowner 'forgot' to pay $75 fee

[WOWAddict]

Originally Posted by Drover

They DID make the determination on site.

Did anyone bother to ascertain any of the facts of this story?

Really did you bother to understand the story or any other story about the incident. Sure they made the determination AFTER the person who paid called and THEN they showed up. What about when the first person called the guy who didnt pay?What did they have esp, telepathy or the Psychic Network? No they were relying on the operator because they did not show up until AFTER the second call.

From the MSNBC article
"Firefighters did eventually show up, but only to fight the fire on the neighboring property, whose owner had paid the fee."

NY Daily News
"
The fire department did finally respond, but only when a neighbor -- who had paid the fee -- called 911 to report the fire had spread to his fields."

ABC News
"In fact, in Cranick's case, officials said that fire trucks didn't even show up until a neighbor who did pay the subscription fee called 911 to protect his home from the growing fire. "

[WOWAddict]

Originally Posted by marmac

Many posters don't like facts ( especially if it is contrary to their formed opinion )

The facts are they did not show up until after the second caller (the person who paid, made the call) so the firefighters did not make an onsite assessment until after the second call. So the fact would be that they were relying on an operator and distressed people calling in to determine if people were in the house.

If anyone has facts from the actual event and not just newsreports and they know the firefighters were on scene after the first call and made the call no one was in the house and just refused to help. That is fine with me, I will retract my comment.

[WOWAddict]

Originally Posted by J&Em

Another chief providing subscription service in Obion County, TN writes to STATter911.com. Read the detailed remarks from Chief Kelly Edmison, Union City FD. | STATter911.com

From the article.

"Their policies are the same. With the exception of a life endanger; if you don’t pay; they don’t come."

My biggest problem is not with the letting the house burn down or even letting the animals die.

Many of the news reports report that they did not show up until the person who paid called. I have not seen any report disputing that. My problem with them is they should have showed up after the first call and made sure on-site no life was endanger. Now if they did respond and it just took them a while and it seemed they did not come until after the second call, I can understand this being a volunteer, poor FD.



"The state of TN guarantees that as a tax payer; city or county, you are promised two things. One, garbage pickup will be provided. And two, law enforcement will be provided. Fire service apparently isn’t considered that important. " This I find very scary. I have big problems with the FD down here mostly because of the Unions and the problems they cause, my how they scream the sky if falling if you cut raises or cut any positions. But to live somewhere without a city fire department is just scary.

[yarddawg]

Originally Posted by WOWAddict

From the article.

"
...................
"The state of TN guarantees that as a tax payer; city or county, you are promised two things. One, garbage pickup will be provided. And two, law enforcement will be provided. Fire service apparently isn’t considered that important. " This I find very scary. I have big problems with the FD down here mostly because of the Unions and the problems they cause, my how they scream the sky if falling if you cut raises or cut any positions. But to live somewhere without a city fire department is just scary.

LOL - "garbage pickup" probably doesn't mean what you think it does either. Just means that they will provide you with some alternative other than throwing it in a sinkhole. In my case that means I get to haul my own garbage to the county "convenience center" and pay 11 cents a pound for the privilege. Yep, they weigh it.

But seriously, if you stick with the mid-sized and larger cities you'll be fine for fire protection, it's in the rural areas that it gets flaky. And you could always install sprinklers. I've considered it, keep meaning to talk to the insurance and see if they'd cut me a break so I could offset the cost a bit. As it stands my insurance is almost 3X my property taxes.

[doc1]

Originally Posted by NJDevil

.... 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.

How did you come to knowing about the firemens spiritual leanings?

Do you all got to the same church?

[Pearl Lilley]

I think it is a sad day for U.S. when firefighters stand around watching a house burn down &pets be burned alive !Would they let PEOPLE DIE BECAUSE THEY DIDN,T GET PAYED$75.00.Fire fighters should be charged with animal abuse!

[EVAunit1981]

If anyone ought to be charged with animal cruelty it should be the homeowner. Not caring enough about your pets to pay $75 to protect them is irresponsible.

[shadowwalker]

Now I got to be a bad guy on here. Their neighbors have paid their 75.00 every year, what makes them not have to pay it?
I can see where the city/county debate is from. People in the city pay taxes and regular services trash/sewer/water etc. Their fire protection is in with these type things. The people that live in the county don't pay regular services.
People that live out of the city limits do so for a reason, so the speak and have to weigh their chances against things like that.
75.00 is a VERY cheap insurance, against a fire. I do feel sorry for the pets though.