This just makes me sick!

[love-my-wolves]

AMEN!!!!! Thank you for that!

I guess what I was so upset about was that they showed up, so they had to use the equipment anyways. I never said they should go inside, just attempt to put out the flames so that something might be salvagable. Yes, the trucks/equipment are expensive, but they already used the resources to show up and make sure no one was hurt, so just use some water and bill them later...... I guarantee the people would have been thrilled to pay the $75 after the fire was put out, do you think they will pay it now???

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[dainerra]

Why would they pay it after the fire was out? Also, how many people next year would say "oh they'll show up anyway, so I'll save my $75"? There are many layers to the story.

I have a friend who owns a garage. He used to try to help people out by letting them make payments. He'd call them up and ask "why haven't you paid me?" "Oh I don't have that car anymore". They would hit a deer or get into an accident and decide that they shouldn't have to finish the payments. One guy had even traded in the old car for a new truck and, now that he had a car payment, he couldn't afford to finish paying for the repairs on a car he didn't even own anymore.
I'd be pretty surprised if that didn't happen to a lot of fire departments too.

What if they DID do the work and the house was a total loss anyway? Would they still pay? Or would they take the attitude that they shouldn't have to pay because it didn't work. I saw an argument at the wet' office because the people refused to pay their bill because their dog hit by a car died of his injuries anyway. So they felt that they shouldn't have to pay the emergency fee for the vet coming in at 3am, for the cost of the surgery, for the aftercare and meds that the dog received.

Again, these people made a concious decision to NOT have fire protection. The volunteers showed up, willing to risk their lives no questions asked to save a life. Again, it's no different to me than the decision to not have insurance on your home.

How is it different?

We see people every day, even on this forum, complaining about the "something for nothing" entitlement. Yet in this case it should have been done?

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

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[twentynine]

Those of you who say file charges against the Fire Dept--- for what exactly?

My family has spent many hours/days volunteering as fire fighters, it ain't just riding on a truck, putting out fire. Who services the trucks? Who cranks the trucks for daily warmup/run? Who cleans the fire house?

You guys are so far off ya'll don't even have a clue. Need to enter the real world where people are held responsible for the actions and inactions.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Everyone keeps going back to this $75 a year thing. Yep, only $75 of you think of it as that one house....


Talked to another ex-fireman on the phone last night an we figured up that our department spends at least $10K fighting each fire. Lucky for us that the people of our county let us have around $3k out of the general tax fund each quarter plus they voted in a 1 cent local option sales tax for buying equipment.


Back to this house. Is not having there $75 an issue? No not really. But I bet there is a thousand other homes that don't see the need to spend that $75. So is $75K a lot of money yet?

Fighting fires is not cheep. We do not know how much this department has in the bank.

Driving the truck to the fire is relitavly cheep. Not much ware driving a truck. But when you start spinning that diesel up to spin that pump it gets expensive. Wear costs money. Water costs money. Gear you burn or melt costs money. House fires are fought from the inside not outside.


Could they fight this fire an afford to still fight the next? Two of these fires? Probably. But how many before they don't have the money to fight a fire in the city that they are actually supposed to cover?

Want to be mad at someone? Be mad at the people of the county for not spending tax money on building fire departments of there own..

 

[chickened]

It would be interesting to see if there are any hidden fees that the homeowner was already paying through taxes or levies that entitled them to some form of fire protection. If that were the case they would have a negligence suit. Nothing protects you from personal negligence. I do believe the people should have paid the 75.00 but 2 wrongs does not make it right. I cannot believe 75.00 is all that is required for fire protection. I would gladly pay that much over what they take from my P taxes.

 

[dainerra]

no, because the COUNTY where they live doesn't provide fire service. I'd bet $75 that is because the residents voted down the idea of paying extra taxes.

ETA: the city where the volunteer fire dept is based has property taxes to cover their fire coverage. The Dept offered to expand outside the city limits to anyone willing to pay the $75 fee.

 

[draye]

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Fire protection? Isn't that what home insurance is for? I pay my insurance premium plus the extra that they tack onto my taxes.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Failure to act is not negligence an is one of the things the laws of most if not all states protect firemen from being sued for.

 

[dainerra]

no, paying for fire protection is paying to have a fire department in your area, either through fees or property taxes.

The reason that the residents can get the coverage for only $75 is because the primary expenses are paid by the property taxes of those living in the city limits. The county residents pay a $75 to help cover the extra equipment that is needed to cover a larger area as well as training for additional men needed. The fire fighters all volunteer their time, so there is no expense for that.

Also, the price is low because you have many people sharing in the expense. It goes back to, if you give it away and only make people pay if they use the services then it is going to be more expensive.
I believe it was Ranch who gave an approximate price range of up to $10,000? Which is more fair? everyone pays $75 or if your home catches on fire you pay $5000+

ETA: oops, it was rebelcowboy, not ranch. sorry!