Firefighters watch as home burns to the ground

[Brandon Jones]

OBION COUNTY, Tenn. - Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won't respond, then watches it burn. That's exactly what happened to a local family tonight.
A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.
The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning.
Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay.
The mayor said if homeowners don't pay, they're out of luck.

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/tn-state-news/Firefighters-watch-as-home-burns-to-the-ground-104052668.html

[ChiefKN]

OBION COUNTY, Tenn. - Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won't respond, then watches it burn. That's exactly what happened to a local family tonight.
A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.
The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning.
Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay.
The mayor said if homeowners don't pay, they're out of luck.

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/tn-st...104052668.html

Guess next time they'll pay the seventy five bucks.

[slackjawedyokel]

Tell you what -- just cancell your insurance on your vehicle and when you have a wreck --- offer to pay your premium.

[IronsMan53]

Do the county residents expect the city to provide them fire protection free of charge? Either pay up (in advance) or form your own fire department.

Usually subscription departments would make a rescue if there were trapped occupants, but if it's just property, sorry it's gone... if you're not a subscriber.

I'm wondering if this guy's insurance company knew he had to have a subscription for protection but chose not to purchase one.

[nmfire]

Resident knew fire protection cost $75/yr.

Resident chose not to pay for said fire protection service.

Resident now doesn't understand why his house burned down.

Resident is an idiot.

[MemphisE34a]

I bet if any other residents have an outstanding balance they PAY UP!!!

[jtucker1384]

All's it takes is one example to prove something is serious. Paying you dues are serious you can't pay for health insurance after you have a accident.

[GTRider245]

No service can be performed without funding. Firefighting is no different.

[hwoods]

Well...........

I don't agree........ And I think Federal Law supports my Position. I'll be emailing the Environmental Protection Agency to see how big a Fine they can hand the Fire Department that allowed a Gross violation of the Clean Air Act to continue without taking some form of action........

[FyredUp]

OBION COUNTY, Tenn. - Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won't respond, then watches it burn. That's exactly what happened to a local family tonight.
A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.
The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning.
Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay.
The mayor said if homeowners don't pay, they're out of luck.

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/tn-st...104052668.html

Too bad. If they allowed him to pay when his house was on fire NO ONE would pay and the fire department would simply not exist because they woud have no funding.

He decided to play the odds and he lost. The homeowner made a horible decision that cost him his house. I would bet others will pay up if they are past due. The insurance analogy is right on. if he hadn't been paying his homeowner's insurance and the house burned down the insurance company is not going to say okay we will take your payment now so we can pay off on your loss. If you take risks sometimes you pay the price. $75 dollars for the year? Please, what a bargain.

By the way, the ONLY WAY I would accept payment at the fire is if the payment was ridiculously expensive, such as $1000.

[tree68]

Geez - the fire portion of my tax bill (a separate line item) is pretty close to $75. Since it's part of my property tax, I never overlook it.

Maybe they should just do the same - put a $75 charge on everybody's property tax bill and pay the city.

Or better yet, levy the charge based on the property value, like mine.

This guy rolled the dice and lost. Like Memphis says - odds are a lot of people are anteing up that cash now...

[BULL321]

I bet if any other residents have an outstanding balance they PAY UP!!!

Word of mouth Advertising works every time!

[jtucker1384]

[QUOTE=This guy rolled the dice and lost. Like Memphis says - odds are a lot of people are anteing up that cash now...[/QUOTE]

This is probably the reason the mayor is cracking down on non payers its a harsh reality but every agency needs money volunteer or not.

[Catch22]

All's it takes is one example to prove something is serious. Paying you dues are serious you can't pay for health insurance after you have a accident.

You, and anyone else that compares this type of situation, are comparing apples to oranges. Insurance is NOT a service. Insurance is a product that provides you compensation should you or your property be damaged. The lack of health insurance DOES NOT preclude you from recieving emergency care. Read the sign on the ER door if you doubt me.

Fire protection is NOT a product, it is a service. Our job as firefighters is to protect people's lives, their property, and the environment.

While I'm not familiar with Tennessee's laws, I'm willing to be they aren't much different than those in Missouri or other states that still allow for subscription-based services. I'd be willing to bet there's a provision in the statutes that allow for the fire department to bill extensively for responding to a non-member fire. In Missouri it's $100 to respond, $500 per hour, plus that year's membership fee. They could easily have made 10 years' worth of dues off that one fire.

As for whoever said the guy knew about the fee, I can't argue that, but did he know about the rules regarding nonpayment? According to the article (if you read more than what was posted on the forum), that's not the case. People expect emergency services to be there, payment or not. Most who do not make the annual payment realize they will be billed for services if they didn't (much like health insurance ).

I'm overly familiar with this kind of case. A few years back a neighboring department did the same thing and made national headlines for watching a person's mechanics shop burn. The primary issue with these membership-based departments are that they do not make everyone aware of the requirement of dues, nor the reprecussions of not paying them.

I'm with Chief Woods. Let me know if you get anywhere with it Harve, it'd be handy information for me and some others in the future.

[jtucker1384]

All's I was stating was how i can see where it comes from. I personally think it is wrong to stand there and do nothing especially when you have the resources to do something.