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Fire department officials in Tennessee watched a rural family’s house burn down all because they had not paid a $75 subscription fee.
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I will tell you this , if the fire dept. did not respond to my house fire , I would respond to the fire dept. with all my ammo.
ReplyDeleteThe fire depts. are so into themselves it is pathetic. My heroes , NOT.
Oh my! What has our world come to! When someone can watch a person's house burn down over $75 would be like watching your child die at the doors of a hospital because you have an unpaid bill! Where is our instincts of compassion and human kindness!We have truly sold our souls for money! Lord help this country and these cold hearted people!
ReplyDeleteThere are no words that can even describe these actions. I hope the insurance company gets involved and sues the crap out of this fire department. They have the money, attorneys and resources to take that fire department on. Can you imagine how much they are going to have to pay out? How awful to watch this house burn to the ground. I feel so sorry for the family that lost their home. Any of you who have experienced a fire know how difficult it is to lose your home. All of this just over a stupid $75.00.
ReplyDeleteWOW, the city is at fault for such a stupid policy. Instead of a tax, they made a fee optional. There is an implied responsibilty to provide public safty, and charge accordingly. They failed on both!
ReplyDeleteHoly crap! Tom Brokaw looks rough these days!
ReplyDeleteDon't give Salisbury and surrounding areas any ideas! I try to understand situations like this but that is just plain ignorant of the fire departments side. They always could institute a policy if it's not paid then there would be a significant charge for a call. The tax payers in that area should be up in arms over this and do something about it.
ReplyDeleteThe tax payers have no reason to be outraged. This guy lived in the county outside of the city. He paid no taxes to the city for fire service and his county taxes did not go to the city department like they do here in Salisbury. So if anything the tax payers should be happy they are not sending their department out to service people who do not pay into the system. The city gave the residents in the county an option, pay into our service or do without. He decided that he would not pay. Now a better system would have been to just bill those people who did not pay the fee for the full cost of service, like in an E.R. or have the county collect the fee in tax form and send to the city. However, that was not the system they had in place. This guy knew that,took the risk, and lost out.
ReplyDeleteWhat has our world come to? All three parties are at fault, the city for the policy, the homeowner for not paying and the fire dept for not doing there job, saving life and property. Hopefully the attention given will change things, sometimes something bad or stupid has to happen for change to occur, just like the last election. Look how bad that went and now change will occur.
ReplyDeletelet the man go down. he knew about the fee. he chose not to subscribe. end of story.
ReplyDeleteVERY similar to trying to buy fire insurance after your house burned down or getting health insurance AFTER you contract AIDS. i feel bad for the guy, but he gambled and lost.
This is how healthcare works in America, why not fire departments, police, and military services?
ReplyDeleteThe outcome was easily predictable along time before this fire actually started. If the fire companies revenue doesn't drop to zero, I'd be surprised. This is simple extortion and if the house that burned, were many people's house that are reading this stories, the fire company would be well advised to keep someone guarding their firehouse and equiptment at all times. Fires are random, so they say.
ReplyDelete12:21 you're retarded.
ReplyDeleteNow please tell me how it is we automatically blame the Fire Dept for not doing their job. I think that the opposite is more true they were doing the job they have been told to do by the City they are all employed by. The City is to blame for the stupid fee they charge. The Fire Dept is not to blame they were just doing their job. I really don't think it is fair to blame them. It is not like the Fire Dept. had anything to with the fee it is simply how the city choose to fund the fire dept going out into the county to handle calls instead of just charging everyone a fire tax. It is really not the best idea I have ever seen but def. not the Fire Depts. fault.
ReplyDelete12:08 and 12:21 - Are you serious?
ReplyDeleteWhat if someone had been inside that home? You think you'd been able to sleep at night knowing you didn't put out that fire then if you were a firefighter?
I know it's been becoming more and more obvious that people are only out for themselves anymore but really? NO compassion for the fellow man? Really?
You disgust me!
12:09 & 12:21 Fire Depts are supposed to be a PUBLIC service! It should not be about money! Go ahead and bill him the $75 after you put his house fire out if you must.
ReplyDeleteSeriously? Are his kids not allowed to go to school because he doesn't live in the city or pay city taxes?!?!?
I live in Fruitland, where I pay taxes out my you-know-what to the city, state, and county and I still get a request for subscribing to the fruitland fire dept. abulance service.
1:17 Pm
ReplyDeleteI agree they should be a public service. The policy should have been to pay the fee or if you have a fire, we will put it out and bill you for the full cost of our service. However, that was not the policy. The homeowner knew what the policy was. He made a 75$ bet that either his house was never going to catch on fire or that they would put it out anyway. Why should I have sympathy for someone who knowingly took a gamble with his property and lost. Do you feel bad for someone who can afford car insurance but decides not to buy it then loses their car in an accident and is left without transportation?
Is it a dumb policy,YES. Should the fire department put it out anyway, YES. Did the homeowner take a $75 bet with his home and lose, YEP, his lose.
its a public service, yes. but its not a FREE service. the fire dept/city did not EXCLUDE him for race, sex, or whatever, in fact, id venture to say they ENCOURAGED people to sign up for the service. he didn't want it, so be it.
ReplyDeletei see this all the time. i work in the life insurance realm. i have people come in after their mother/father pass and get ticked off with us becuase their parents only bought $1000.00 worth of insurance then expect us to give them more because the funeral is $8000+. im pretty sure the agent wouldve LOVED to get more sales, but people decline all the time.
which is probably why i side with the fire dept on this. its there, all he had to do was buy it.
A home in salisbury has about the same chance of being put out even when the fire department shows up
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with this what so ever. There is no laws in many jurisdictions that require a county or municipality to provide police, fire and EMS. Yes, many do pay taxes but is that little tax or fee you pay really going to pay for the equipment and manpower to put out your house fire? No! To those morons spouting thing like "suing" or threatening retaliation, GET A LIFE!!
ReplyDeleteThe Knights of Malta have shown their true colors!
ReplyDeleteBeware of the Maltese Cross
Annon 1:01 Get a clue, Why did the fire department even show up if they didn't plan on fighting the fire. Sounds like a fire department full of rednecks.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a Republican Fire Department plan
ReplyDeleteThe attitude of this Fire Department is no different
ReplyDeletethan a old lady being mugged
and bystanders not lifting
a hand to help her. Sad world
we live in, it used to be neighbor
helping neighbor thats all the
insurance you needed until crooks came along and by and behold insurance companies were formed.
Now you are taxed to death or insured to death because we have
lost complete control.
I heard about this on the radio and was appalled! Around here most people "sponsor" their fire and EMS with donations but they wont let your house burn down if you DONT donate.Likewise with EMS.They will still come out and get you but you are charged for the ambulance after the fact.All they need is billy clubs and they could go around demanding "fire insurance" from people and burn themn out if they dont pay.Mafia,Tennessee style.
ReplyDeleteAll of you that subscribe to the "they should have paid" thinking lack two major elements in your make-up. They are compassion and empathy. If they are not an intregal part of your being, it's a true indication of selfishness. If you still find your logic acceptable, then carry that thought of pay-to-go to police protection. If it were to come about, would it be right for police to stand by watching a crime take place because the bill hasn't been paid? The pretend firefighters in this story (they're not like any firefighter that I've ever known) should be shamed by everyone, even selfish people like yourselves. Don't forget one thing in life gentlemen (I hesitate to use that word too) that what goes around, comes around and life ain't over for you yet. God may still give you a chance to experience something similar to what this family went through and if it should happen then your self-serving acrimonious attitude would no longer work for you. I believe it would be a well deserved experience for you. The words empathy, compassion, caring, decency, selflessness, are all key components to being a well rounded human being. The selfish are guaranteed a place in hell by the creator of life, God. Chew on that gentlemen while you pass sentence on those less fortunate than yourselves. Times are really tight for many and if it comes down to food or a fire company fee???
ReplyDeletethis is how the fire service originally started in america. heck, if there is no lives at risk in the house let it burn. why should a firefighter risk his life for nothing.
ReplyDeleteGood grief. I can't believe so many people are siding with the fire department. So basically you feel that if your neighbor's house caught on fire the fire department should choose to let it burn to the ground and protect your property over $75.00? I completely disagree with having a stupid fee for any fire department to charge for "just in case your house catches on fire fee". Would they have let someone die in the house if it was on fire because he hadn't paid his fee? Anyway in that type of emergency who has time to look up whether or not someone had paid a fee or not. What is this world coming to? The too bad so sad attitude is what amazes me. If that was your family, neighbor or friend, I seriously doubt you would be saying the same.
ReplyDelete12:08 PM
ReplyDeleteThe fire dept did show up. They watched his house burn up along with 3 dogs and a cat.
They also put out fire that spread to his neighbors property.
But they proved their point didn't they?
I bet it bites them in the butt.
To those of you who think the fire department did the right thing - are you tea party people? I am curious to see where tea partiers would stand on this.
ReplyDeleteThis man lived outside the city - and did not pay taxes to the city. So, the city had no obligation to put out the fire. In addition this man CHOOSE not to pay the $75 fee that would have insured the fire department came to his house in the event of a fire - essentially a $75 fire insurance policy - how cheap can he possibly be that he would gamble the house by not paying the fee? To top that off the fire started in the yard when he was burning yard waste in barrels - completely preventable had he made sure he had either an adequate supply of water or a working fire extinguisher before he started burning - so in addition to being a cheapskate he is a careless idiot.
ReplyDeleteReally, where are all the Tea Party - 'get the government out of my life' libertarians? Here is a perfect example - pay as you go and if you don't pay don't call the fire department. Don't like the way it looks? Oh well...
I imagine that the insurance companies around there will now begin to surcharge their policies and pay those fees in advance to avoid any future claims under similar circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI know that I would do that, if I was in charge of issuing any fire insurance policies
Following up on 11:50's main point this is precisely the world the Tea Party Libertarians want you to buy into, where people are free to make exactly these kinds of moral hazard choices, and suffer the consequences.
ReplyDeleteA lot of purported conservatives who support the Tea Party are OUTRAGED that this fee for service Fire Dept would not put out the fire. If you are serious about being a social conservative or a Tea Partier why would you feel this way? This scenario is a perfect snapshot of a libertarian world. Pay your money (or not) and take your chances.
Tea Partiers need to put on their thinking caps for a moment about what your fellow Tea Party LIbertarians are really proposing with respect to these types of social choices.
I'm a Tea Party supporter and a registered Democrate in Delaware and I left the Anonymous 4:20 PM comment if you need to know how ome of us might think.
ReplyDeleteBelow is an abbreviated explanation of the 10 agenda items of the tea Party that canidates are expected to follow and sign off on:
To see the entire explanation go to:
Wikipedia Tea Party Movement
1.Identify constitutionality of every new law:
2.Reject emissions trading:
3.Demand a balanced federal budget:
4.Simplify the tax system:
5.Audit federal government agencies for constitutionality:
6.Limit annual growth in federal spending:
7.Repeal the health care legislation passed on March 23, 2010:
8.Pass an 'All-of-the-Above' Energy Policy:
9.Reduce Earmarks: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget
is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark.
10.Reduce Taxes: Permanently repeal all recent tax increases, and
extend current temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax
and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011.
This is how we think. The country is in the toilet and the first new disater that affects our country will send our country into a tailspin a depression because those at the top have no idea what the real problems are. When there's not enough people to pay taxes because there are no jobs, this article tells you the position that your fire and law enforcement higharcy will take. They'll sit by until paid. The little bit of criminal activety in Salisbury will look like kid stuff compared. We need balanced federal/state budgets (your children and grandchildren deserve no less), working class jobs, industry and a government that's run by the middle class, not legal tongue twisters constantly rearranging the laws to suit their needs and their contributors (pay-offs in advance). We've got decades of these guys and if it continues the first new 911 that comes along, we're going down, all the way. Think about where our past votes have gotten our country. We've been sold out.
6:54 -- Let me get this straight, because your position fascinates me. Re your statement
ReplyDelete"this article tells you the position that your fire and law enforcement higharcy will take. They'll sit by until paid."
This may be a newsflash for you, but that is precisely the world that Libertarian Tea Partiers envision where rugged individualists and free thinking people are making personal hard choices about what protection, insurance, and services etc. they wish to pay for, or not pay for. A "pay for spray" FD
would be an ideal Libertarian economic model.
You are 180 degrees in opposition to the core philosphical position of your party if you think what these firefighters did is wrong or immoral. Do you realize this?