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Tennessee Firefighters Let Home Burn Over Subscription Issue
JASON HIBBS
WPSD
Reprinted with Permission
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.
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- MSNBC: No pay, no spray: Firefighters let home burn
FireEMSBlogs.com Updates
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.
This fire went on for hours because garden hoses just wouldn't put it out. It wasn't until that fire spread to a neighbor's property, that anyone would respond.
Turns out, the neighbor had paid the fee.
"I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75, but I was wrong," said Gene Cranick.
Because of that, not much is left of Cranick's house.
They called 911 several times, and initially the South Fulton Fire Department would not come.
The Cranicks told 9-1-1 they would pay firefighters, whatever the cost, to stop the fire before it spread to their house.
"When I called I told them that. My grandson had already called there and he thought that when I got here I could get something done, I couldn't," Paulette Cranick.
It was only when a neighbor's field caught fire, a neighbor who had paid the county fire service fee, that the department responded. Gene Cranick asked the fire chief to make an exception and save his home, the chief wouldn't.
We asked him why.
He wouldn't talk to us and called police to have us escorted off the property. Police never came but firefighters quickly left the scene. Meanwhile, the Cranick home continued to burn.
We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception.
"Anybody that's not in the city of South Fulton, it's a service we offer, either they accept it or they don't," Mayor David Crocker said.
Friends and neighbors said it's a cruel and dangerous city policy but the Cranicks don't blame the firefighters themselves. They blame the people in charge.
"They're doing their job," Paulette Cranick said of the firefighters. "They're doing what they are told to do. It's not their fault."
To give you an idea of just how intense the feelings got in this situation, soon after the fire department returned to the station, the Obion County Sheriff's Department said someone went there and assaulted one of the firefighters.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Herb Genelly III on
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You're NEVER going to convince some folks, even in the face of reality. The name calling starts, when they have to go down on the sinking ship, and the cold hard truth hits them in the face. Right....the Titanic wasn't supposed to sink....LOL
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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
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960,
What "name calling" are you talking about?
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Permalink Reply by Earl Day on
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As a retired past Chief, I guess I would have gotten myself in trouble with the town board. There is no way I would have let that house burn to the ground and stand there and do nothing!
If there was an issue of not paying, then the town board could bill them after I put that fire out. I will never stand by and watch someone loose all their earthly possessions for $75.00 I would gladly that the political heat!!!!
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Earl,
Who's protecting the lives and properties of the subscription-paying members of the community while you're running the fire department the way you think it should be run?
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Permalink Reply by Mike Scotto on
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As a firefighter with a paid department, I will not throw stones at a policy that governs another department, which lives by payment of fees. I will say this, we are here to help and it seems to me that the decent option here was simply to help. Isn't that why we all became firefighters and not someone else? Stay Safe Brothers and Sisters, Lt. Mike Scotto FDNY.
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Mike,
They did help. They didn't allow the home of a paid subscriber to burn down. They were absolutely correct in the way they handled this.
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Permalink Reply by M.J. 6821 on
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What if this had been a family that is suffering from the economic downturn and simply could not have afforded to pay the fee? What then? Would you extinguish it?
That goes back to something mentioned long ago in this discussion. If that is the case, then such a family should not have cable or satellite TV, cell phone, internet, high end electronics, etc, etc, etc, because it goes to the difference of a want and a need.
Secondly, they are still living in an area with subscription service, it is not the fire depts job to determine the reason someone couldn't pay the bill. They live somewhere with such a policy, then expect said policy to be enforced.
If they are poor and dont have the other things that you are talking about they could probbly sue for discrimination, and if they have put out fires in the past and took the money retroactively as has been stated several times they have set precedent whether its under this chief or not the precedent is there. Just bc Roe vs Wade was under different justices then what are there now doesn't mean it doesn't have any less weight.
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I am not looking to argue about my posting, I have been in the fire service for a very long time and in a lot of ways I am still old school, that doesn't mean that I was a bad firefighter or bad officer. I've been racked over the coals many times for making unfavorable decisions.
All I was saying is what I would have done..... It's all politics son.....
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Fireslayer,
I never called you names, instead I called your remark a stupid, moronic, fallicy, especially when such remarks can be construed as a career vs volly issue. It was not because of issues like this that volunteer depts were formed. The issues about pay has been when individual volunteer companies (most sponsored by insurance companies) would race to fires and even get into fights because of money which could be received by insurance companies.
It was not paid depts refusing to extinguish fires for lack of a tax paid and volunteer depts came about because of that as you implied. Instead volunteer companies were around well before the first career or paid depts.
And the fact still remains, majority of posts about FFs should have extinguished etc are opinion....the reality is there was no duty to act, orders were given and followed, and the owner is the only one to blame for not paying for a subscription....those are the facts and they are solid, no opinion about it. Having a ton of people argue against such facts because they don't agree, doesn't change the facts.
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Earl,
If you're not gonna argue, you came to the wrong place, son.
All I'm saying is that what you're saying has its own consequences.
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You're NEVER going to convince some folks, even in the face of reality. The name calling starts, when they have to go down on the sinking ship, and the cold hard truth hits them in the face.
No name calling being done from here as you imply, as for the cold hard truth, those facts favor the reality that differs from your opinion.
Right....the Titanic wasn't supposed to sink....LOL
And this guy's house wasn't supposed to burn either.
Only difference was the full compliment of lifeboats was taken off the Titanic by the builder......whereas, the responsibility for having a subscription falls solely with the homeowner.
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MJ,
Why don't you bring up such issues with the politicians and people who voted for such subscription services? Why do you insist on trying to make a case out of something that really isn't your problem. If the people can't afford a subscription, nor anything else in terms of luxuries, what makes you think they can afford the house they are living in then as well?
Also it doesn't matter what happened in the past and there have been statements that billing retroactively does not always go to the fire dept. The policy is there and in place, just because it hasn't always been enforced doesn't make this a past practice issue.
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