No comment... They Didn't Pay The Fee: Firefighters Watch Tennessee Family's House Burn : The Two-Way : NPR
Local government, and the local people are the ones at fault here. How is it that it is optional that you pay for fire services. They have to be funded somehow or they cease to be. I am assessed this service on my taxes and have no choice but to pay or the county can take my property. It is for the benefit of all. Yes I know that sounds socialistic, but most all public services are. They have to be funded 100 percent of the time, not just when you decide that you need them. Consider it a form of insurance if you will. If you do not have insurance on your car, and you are driving too fast on wet roads and you hydroplane, lose control, and total your car, do you immediately offer up an insurance premium and say fix or replace my car? I think not.
This isn't the 1st time this has happened in this town.....I have a friend that lives there and everything about this is SOOOO wrong....My friend lives next door to one of the houses that was on fire...and had it not been for neighbors wetting her house down...(and she paid her money!) her house would have been lost too...They weren't doing anything to save her house.....it started in July, 2008...over 2 yrs ago, and now ...has happened again. If you want to read about it...it's an open forum......We started a fund back then and helped the family that lost their home out...People sent money, gift cards, clothes, etc...Now, it's happened again...and they're trying to get people to move TO this community??? I don't think so.... BuffettNews.com • View topic - House next door burned to the ground... "And we are outside the city limits. We have to pay a yearly $75 'subscription' to get fire protection. He didn't pay his, but his house insurance would've paid the cost. There is a meeting with the City Manager on Monday morning and many people will be there, including us. The fire dept. didn't come out ON PURPOSE because he didn't have the 'subscription'. But our house very easily could've burnt. That ain't fire protection in my book. They waited until our house was smoking and steaming before they came out. Heads will roll, I'm telling you. " This one from the most recent fire...: "Yes our neighbors rebuilt a whole new house. Yes they DO pay the fee. Now PETA and the Humane Society are getting involved for the animals who died in a horrible painful way. And the Weather Channel even interviewed Mr. Cranick. The owners of the property next to the Cranicks (it was a field and fencerow trees) went up to the fire department while the house was burning and asked them, "What would it take for you to put out their fire ? WE'LL pay the $75 !!!!!!" They still wouldn't throw a little water on it. By the way, we here (outside the city limits) all get our water from the city of South Fulton and pay for it on a monthly bill. I could go on and on but it just gets more unbelievable. " Interesting hearing about it from someone who lives there...
Who cares! You don't just let people loose everything they have because they didn't pay some fee! If they helped them, I bet anything that those folks would be anxious to pay everything they owed with 1000% interest!
Someone needs to check to see how much federal funds are used by the department and consider filing suit .....
this could not happen in the uk those firemen should hang there heads in shame sod there orders or boss put the fire out let them sort out the mony later
Here in sunny Tallytown, I am five miles outside westside city limits. I live in a DW MH. Closest FD is a little volunteer unit (one truck) another few miles down the highway. Nearest paid FD is back in town, about eight miles. The county is now charging us $43 each quater - $169 a year - "Fire service fee". I have to pay this slush fund, or they tack it onto my property taxes - which one would think help to pay fire services to begin with....? So, I pays the Devil his due...... knowing that if my home catches fire, by the time they get here, it will be a smoking ruin....... No choice given. I always label the checks "for illegal tax". Not much protest, but about all we have these days......
I hate to play devil's advocate and take the other side, but..... All discussions of this sort have many aspects. To blindly state one position, fully condeming it serves no purpose for anyone. As a former volunteer firefighter in the small rural county where I live I have seen both sides to this. When I moved onto my property 17 years ago there were only 2 fire stations in the entire county (then population aprox 15,000). Neither station was a paid firefighter full time station, but instead, a call out volunteer station. Naturally response time could be extremely long. Just for info purposes, there were only 2 incorporated towns in the entire county as well. One of 5000 residents, and one of 500. Naturally this is where the 2 fire stations were at. Over the years our population has grown to about 22,000 or so and there are now 6 volunteer stations. Even volunteer stations have upkeep and operating expenses. Getting money from the county or the population was like trying to pull teeth from a fully capable wildcat with nothing more than pliers. I can't state this any clearer.... If you want any type of emergency services at all it takes money. How you get this money is up to the people who want the services and their local government. A Local property tax add on is the easiest answer. YOU HAVE TO FUND IT adequately and continuously or it all completely fails. An optional annual fee for services is a stupid way to try to accomplish funding and should never be used. The incident that started this thread is a prime example of the worst result of this type of funding solution. . I hold firm on my position that those who for whatever reason decline to pay the fee before the incident and the local government and voters are those at fault for the situation. . As a side note on mobile homes. They are cheap compared to a site built home for a reason. They are fire traps that almost always burn to slag and ashes no matter how fast the response time. I know of only 2 that were almost completely saved during my time as an active firefighter. . Don't blame the fire fighters unless you have detailed intimate info on the incident. Many are under orders with regard to dispatch, and can even be ordered back to station when enroute. To disobey can get you fired as a volunteer. No mistake on what you just read. Even unpaid volunteers can be fired! The county here pays workmans comp insurance on all the volunteers and has that right.
His local government is not doing their job! Everyone in my town has fire protection, police protection, water and sewer, etc. And we all pay our fair share for it because we have a decent local government. If our city council was not doing their job, there would be new people in charge after the next election. That is one of the benifits, and one of the responsabilities, of living in a civilized society. The state should look into the sorry excuse for leadership in his community.
The usurious Property Taxes should be paying for Fire Service, just as it helps pay for Police, Schools and Storm Water Runoff........ A seperate "Fire Service Fee" is nothing more than highway robbery. Does not matter where you live or what kind of home. Non-voted taxation is a crime.
Here where I live it is optional as it should be! If you pay you have if you don't you don't. Works just fine. I don't pay because by the time they got out here the house would be gone and it wouldn't matter any way so why should I pay for it. It would just be another way of robbing me of money. BWM
I can't agree that it should be optional! . If you locals don't fund the fire departments, volunteer or paid, there is nothing they can do. Small rural counties are the worst. I have been to the County Commision meetings where they set the budget and the millage rate. I hate paying taxes just like the rest of you. but, most everyone expects everything, but no one wants to have to pay for it. You get what you pay for to as far as the dollar will stretch. My county is so rural and sparce we have like 7 gas stations in the entire county. Guess what our share of the gas tax collected looks like for road maintenance. We have a lot of dirt roads! Times are tough, and it's going to get one hell of a lot worse before it gets better. Here as to funding for schools, ems, and fire, it is an additional tax added to every residence, but not undeveloped property. I have had no children in school here ever, but I still have to pay that. That's not a gripe, it's just a fact of life that I understand. . as to opting out if I could. I have a rental place, there are several rentals out here in the boonies, suppose all the landlords failed to pay and opt in. None of those rentals would be protected except by our property insurance, if we chose to pay for that.
Where I live we have private fire companies...and, if you don't enroll you don't get service. We also voted to fund fund the Sheriff at a level that does not allow rural patrol deputies...since response time for them in some parts of the county was about 45 mins anyway. So those of us out here where I live are pretty much on our own. I don't mind, nor do most of my neighbors....we are a pretty self-reliant group.
We have a local Community police/watch in my community... no sworn folks an occasional deputy or Highway patrol.... 15-20 minute responce time for sworn LEO's
