Firefighters Let Home Burn Over Unpaid Fee

My question is who has the time to look this stuff up when the alarms are going off? Or does every house have a sticker on it like the car property tax sticker in VA?

My gut tells me there is more to the story like someone didn't like this guy and they found a loop hole when he was in need.

Next time your in your car look at the date on the sticker. I bet its a couple years old because they have not had city stickers for about 3 yrs now. Wake up.:cheeky-sm

Apples and oranges FD.

Really!

It's a slippery slope. Those usage fees are obviously a big part of their funding, and they only responded to help the homeowner who did pay. If that gentleman who paid the fees hadn't called, the fire department wouldn't have responded at all.

While it's a damn shame that Mr. Cranick lost his possessions and pets, if the fire department puts this fire out, the precedent would be set that they would have to serve all those who didn't pay as well, or risk lawsuit. The flip side of the coin would be what if a firefighter had lost his life fighting this fire? Would his widow(er) be denied insurance benefits because they were not authorized to put out this fire?

The correct answer isn't always the best answer or the most moral answer.

I hope they write an article about me when I forget to pay a car payment and the car get's repo'd!!!!!

Would you expect you auto ins. co. to pay your auto claim if your policy went out for non payment the month before?

It's no secret that what Marxist like him really want is a socialized Fire Department with the ability to place a lien on your property if you fail to pay your dues. They're not fooling anybody, we all know that is their end goal,

The guy live in a county that has no fire dpt. so the other county provides fire dpt. services for a fee and the didn't pay. The link I provided the guys said he thought they would provide service even if he didn't pay the fee. Semms like he got what he paid for. Nothing I have read says any about the time line of events so maybe by the time they responded to the neighbor who paid the fee it was too late to help the guys dogs.

The guy live in a county that has no fire dpt. so the other county provides fire dpt. services for a fee and the didn't pay. The link I provided the guys said he thought they would provide service even if he didn't pay the fee. Semms like he got what he paid for. Nothing I have read says any about the time line of events so maybe by the time they responded to the neighbor who paid the fee it was too late to help the guys dogs.

This is the type of thing where you punish people with fees after the fact. That's your incentive to pay. Make it 10 to 15 times the amount of the yearly service fee. Charge him a fine in the range of $750-$1125. Put a lein on the house of people who don't pay, take it out of their pay check. Do what you have to do to collect the fee. Don't sit there and watch a persons place burn down with his pets inside.

The fire department will be sued. Every lawyer within a 1,000 miles of South Fulton Tennessee is going to want a piece of the settlement that will result from this. The assault charges will be dropped. In the end the fire department looks like idiots in a country where fireman are rightfully deemed real life super heroes.

Saden why do I get the feeling you're not being totally genuine in your posts on this thread?

Dirtbag I agree, levy the heavy fines and fees after the fact

Saden why do I get the feeling you're not being totally genuine in your posts on this thread?

Dirtbag I agree, levy the heavy fines and fees after the fact

Why do you doubt my rational? Do I not make any sense?

Speaking of fines and fees....any of you guys ever forget to pay your semi-annual water and sewage treatment fee to your city? I have. Instead of letting me deal with my own water and sewage acquisition and disposal the f'ing city placed a lien on my property! It cost me $400 with interest and fees. That's big government for you.

This is the type of thing where you punish people with fees after the fact. That's your incentive to pay. Make it 10 to 15 times the amount of the yearly service fee. Charge him a fine in the range of $750-$1125. Put a lein on the house of people who don't pay, take it out of their pay check. Do what you have to do to collect the fee. Don't sit there and watch a persons place burn down with his pets inside.

The fire department will be sued. Every lawyer within a 1,000 miles of South Fulton Tennessee is going to want a piece of the settlement that will result from this. The assault charges will be dropped. In the end the fire department looks like idiots in a country where fireman are rightfully deemed real life super heroes.

This doesn't work necessarily.

Imagine this becomes the SOP. So what happens? Now people get to basically decide whether to pay the fee or risk having to pay umpteen more in fines/interest/whatever if they have a fire. Let's say it's a lot. Like 100X the fee...so $7500.

Now how many people pay the fee? None? Some? Who knows but I'd bet a good many of them don't pay their fee. As luck would have it most of them won't have a fire but if just one in a hundred does then the whole deal is all square monetarily. But what if only one in thousand do? Now the county is out a bunch of money. Seems to me that the fines/interest have to be significant...to the point of prohibitive. I am guessing a guy living in a double-wide in a poorish rural county doesn't have the juice to pay $20,000 in fines.

This is definitely not a simple moral question to me. On one hand you can't simply make it policy to provide a service whether someone paid for it or not. Regardless of the nature of the service the leverage to actually collect a fee for the service disappears as soon as you set precedent that the fee is essentially voluntary. On the other hand it obviously doesn't seem right that someone loses their home because of a stupid $75 fee. I guess sometimes fair and right aren't the same thing.