Man chooses not to pay fire protection fee, house allowed to burn down

We lived in a rural fire district for 7 years.

You could be a member for $50 a year and not worry about it.

If you were't a member and had a call to your property, it was $250 just to respond, then $200 a truck and $30 a man per hour.

That's going to add up real fast, even for a little brush fire.

 

Welcome to Libertarian America.

 

I'm going to guess that if any firefighter had gotten hurt taking care of the nonpaying guy's house, the department's meager insurance wouldn't have covered it.

 

ding ding ding

rugged individualism

miracle of the marketplace

burn baby burn

 

Come on. America is a big country. Fully paid, professional fire departments may make sense for cities; they don't make sense for rural areas. That's why there are rural and volunteer fire departments that exist in every state in the union -- liberal and conservative and everything in between. I imagine there's probably some equivalent in Canada and France and Sweden and Japan and every place in the world in which people living in non-dense areas still try to find a way to protect themselves against fire.

I'm not oozing with sympathy for the guy who's house burned down, since he seemed perfectly content to be a freeloader until he actually needed the service. BUT the policies of the fire department do seem especially absurd. Do your best to put the fire and then send the guy the bill. A very expensive bill.

 

I read in a story yesterday they had paid it every year they'd had the policy, but just hadn't gotten around to it this year. So it's not like the guy opted out of it on some greater moral stance.

 

Yup. Sounds like a pretty costly oops.

 

Wow, some pretty callous people in this thread. I can't believe there isn't more outrage at the fire department for not putting bureaucracy aside and doing their jobs.

I guess growing up as the son of a volunteer firefighter has me biased, but I know there isn't a situation that his department wouldn't respond to. And this was in a fairly rural area. Response times may never be like what you may get from a paid crew in a major city, but they did their damnedest to get somewhere on time and do their best to help the person in need, no matter the circumstances.

 

My father was a volunteer firefighter as well. But that was in the 1980s. This is 2010. Big difference, apparently.

I hear ya, though.

 

In a related development, the Obion County, Tennessee Tea Party meeting scheduled for October 17 at Gene Crancik's house has been moved to the Applebee's on Reelfoot Rd in Union City. The 2 for $20 meal deal will be suspended, the no sharing policy will still be in effect.

 

Of course we have volunteer fire departments. We don't charge extra for it.

Geez, that's like saying, "Oh, you live in the country. You want police protection? That's $100.00 per year. If you don't have it, tough shit if someone breaks into your house"

I think fire service is what most of us consider to be an essential service.

 

The Bloodhound Gang abides