Firefighters let Home Burn in Tenn.
Okay I may upset a few folks with my opinion on this incident.
No pay, no spray: Firefighters let home burn
Firefighters in rural Tennessee let a home burn to the ground last week because the homeowner hadn’t paid a $75 fee.
Gene Cranick of Obion County and his family lost all of their possessions in the Sept. 29 fire, along with three dogs and a cat.
“They could have been saved if they had put water on it, but they didn’t do it,” Cranick told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.
The fire started when the Cranicks’ grandson was burning trash near the family home. As it grew out of control, the Cranicks called 911, but the fire department from the nearby city of South Fulton would not respond.
“We wasn’t on their list,” he said the operators told him.
Read the Rest here
Here goes… The homeowner is an idiot. The service was not denied by the fire department it was denied by the homeowner for not paying the required fee. The firefighters would have put out the fire if the service was paid for. Not paying for a service and then demanding the service be rendered AFTER the fact is ridiculous.
I guess I don’t need pay for insurance for my car, after I get in a wreck I’ll just pay the fee that GEICO charges for coverage and they’ll pay for damages… Not likely. Pay for health insurance only after you get sick?
That being said it had to be hard to watch the home burn down while the firefighters were protecting those that did pay the fee. But on the bright side, I bet a lot more of the residence in that area will pay NOW.
The story is typical of MSNBC though, it tugs at the heart strings. Oh My GOD, how could those evil firefighters let the home burn… Couldn’t have been easy, but if you take a risk with your insurance or in this case a minimum yearly fee, you could end up in this predicament.
Am I wrong?
8 Replies to “Firefighters let Home Burn in Tenn.”
All firefighters in that town who were aware of that call and failed to respond should be jailed. Municipality shoud be sued and be made to replace the loss.
Why is that Minuteman? There is a fee in place to insure fire dept. response. Those that don’t pay are risking exactly what happened to this house. Again I ask, using a car insurance analogy. Why not wait till you wreck your car then pay the fee?
This is what happens when you gamble. You risk. The consequences of your choice is this can happen. Too many times we try and mitigate the concequences of poor choices by blaming the “After” Time for us to man up, buck up or in other words get back to true conservatism. Which is basically RESPONSIBILITY for yourself and your ACCOUNTABILITY for your actions.
Your going to let someones home burn to the ground for not paying a $75.00 fee? If you were any of those firefighters and that was my home, you would be advised to make sure that your fire insurance is paid up. Sometimes paybacks can be hell.
Yes Minuteman I am. And here’s why. The city residences pay the taxes and fees in order to have that service rendered. The Rural areas have the option to pay for that service or not. IF they choose NOT, then they risk this type of incident. The FD was not obligated to even show up for that fire. They showed up to protect those that DID pay that fee.
This is an ELECTIVE service. Most areas MANDATE that fee. This area does not. A mandated fee for service is what a lot of us bitch about. People having the option to NOT pay if they want is a good thing. But they need to be sure that’s the right thing.
Why do you blame the FD for not putting the Fire out? Why not blame the guy for not paying the fee? OR since he didn’t pay the fee, why did he not have his own fire fighting equipment or plan?
I gotta say the emotions you are showing on behalf of someone that made a choice to take a chance leaves a lot to be desired. We need to be aware of the consequences of our actions. He made a choice, the consequence is evident and I bet the rest of the area pays their fee.
What would the other residences say if they put the fire out and had been paying the fee for years? WHY did they pay it? WHY is that right? The rest of the area would stop paying and then just pay when their house is on fire. How do you keep staff and equipment for that service if nobody is paying? You are suggesting the emergency room doctor visit the illegals use as being Okay…
Robert – I’m a retired Army LTC. I know all about responsibility and accountability. I also know those firefighters did not do what was right in that situation.
Minuteman, I realize YOU know about those things. That’s why it shocks me that you blame the FD for this incident. Yes it would have been very difficult for me to let a house burn if I had the means to stop it. Yes morally it may have been very questionable. BUT remove the emotions and look at the facts. IF they put the fire out, how many FD personal would be let go because of lack of revenue from the area soon after? How many other lives would be disrupted because of this mans choices?
The fire dept is there as a service and WE all pay for that service in the form of taxes and fees. IF you called your local Gov. official and told them you will not be paying taxes what happens to you? What do you think would happen if you decided to sue and won a suit that opted you out of paying for FD services, and you don’t pay taxes for a year, then your house catches fire? You think they would save it?…I’m betting the outcome would be the same.
We can disagree on this that’s fine.
The three puppies and the cat that died in the fire did not have much say about paying the fee.
Al R, I’ll give ya that one, but pets are again the responsibility of their owner. IF kids or humans died in the fire then I’d be a lot more compassionate about this incident.
Right now, I’m still laying the blame on the homeowner. I wish them well and I hope they have learned their lesson.