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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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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 Ben Waller on
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More information regarding why Obion County doesn't have a county fire department - they can't, unless a) the County Council approves it and b) the new fire department is certified by the state.
Here are the particulars from the University of Tennessee's County Technical Assistance Service:
"Last year the General Assembly enacted the “Fire Department Recognition Act,” 2003 Public Chapter 312 now codified at T.C.A. §§ 68-102-301 through 68-102-307. This act became effective on July 1, 2003. Today, no county, municipality or other organization, agency or entity is allowed to operate a fire department in Tennessee unless it has been duly recognized by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, State Fire Marshall’s office."
"Fire departments in existence before July 1, 2003 were required to file an application and receive approval by the State Fire Marshall’s office in order to continue to operate. Upon being recognized as a fire department, the State Fire Marshall issues a certificate of recognition to the department that is valid for a period of three years. Once recognized, the fire department is classified as career, volunteer or combination."
"After July 1, 2003, no new fire department may be established or recognized within Tennessee without the approval of the local elected governing body. Therefore, a volunteer fire department cannot be formed and operate in the unincorporated areas of a county without the approval of the county legislative body."
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Permalink Reply by Billy Lilly on
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Okay ben. But why dont they try doing somthing like bingo. Fundraising isnt limited to bake sells. I mean the fire deaprtment i come from. was kinda in the same boat many years ago. As in operating budget. But sometimes you have to work to make things better. We do alot of fundraisers. We do bingo, lawn partys, Cater dinners, We actually do a raffle. To raise money. Are department is in better shape then what it was.
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Plus you said the website is down. It's been down. Which kinda makes people think that they know they were in the wrong.
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Permalink Reply by Bill Brierton on
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I think it is time to put this story to bed. We can argue it till the end of time and each of us will have a difference of opinion. As for my opinion well I will keep it to myself that way I'm not getting dragged into an arguement. We can agree to disagree but life goes on.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Billy:
Let me ask you a question about your fundraising.
If your department is spending alot of time raising funds to operate, how much time AREN'T you spending training?
And here's the reason I ask. With so much to learn and with so many new mandates on training coming at us, you have a two-headed dragon. You raise money, but then you miss out on training.
We have two fundraisers a year, but we no longer look at it for its funding component. We look at it as an opportunity to get with our residents and show them what we do and what it costs to do it. We put new equipment out with its price tag and explain why we have to have it.
As a trustee, it is our board's responsibility to get the funding for the fire department. And we have done just that. And we always budget alot of money for...wait for it...training and education. Rarely, do we turn down a request for money for a training class.
We don't want the members to worry about money for department needs.
And if all else fails and the funding isn't keeping up, then we would go to the voters for a tax increase referendum. If they say "no thanks", then we operate at current levels with no new services, due to the lack of funding.
But what you are doing is admirable; unfortunate, but admirable. Our department operated much like your's does, some 25 years ago. As an example, when I got on the department 30 years ago, our annual budget was just over $32,000. Today, it is $96,000. And our only debt is the 2009 recently purchased for a zero interest loan. That saved us $80,000 in interest alone. And we have been successful 5 or the last 6 years on FIRE Act grants. And we also applied for and received a small tools grant from the state of Illinois.
Have your fire board go after the money. You go after the training.
TCSS.
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Billy,
The fire department is a city fire department.
The place with subscription-only fire protection is in the county, not the city.
Why should the South Fulton city firefighters be forced to do extra fundraising activities in order to provide fire protection outside of their city limits in unincorporated Obion County? Remember that SFFD operates a primarily volunteer fire department.
Bingo is illegal in Tennessee.
"8)(A) "Type of lottery game" means a game of chance played by any person eighteen (18) years of age or older, including raffles, reverse raffles, cakewalks and cakewheels, but expressly prohibiting pulltabs, punchboards, bingo, instant bingo, video lottery, instant and on-line lottery games of a type operated by the Tennessee education lottery corporation, keno and games of chance associated with casinos including, but not limited to, slot machines, roulette wheels, and the like;"
(emphasis supplied)
Other "Charitable Games of Chance" are legal under strictly defined conditions
The first of those conditions is that the sponsoring agency MUST be a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Municipalities, by definition, cannot also be 501(c)3 nonprofits.
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It's an annual fee. You have to pay every year to contract for that year's fire protection.
Do you get free car insurance this year because you paid car insurance for the preceding 19 years?
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Billy,
One other question...
Does your fire department conduct fundraisers to support fire protection outside of your fire district?
Apparently, you think that you should, if you apply the same principles to your own department that you suggest should be applied to South Fulton.
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Chief We still do training. We go to classes. We attend training. We have monthly training. Heck my volunter chief probbaly has more training then alot of firefighters. Are budget now is probbaly around $92,000 now too. But we do fundraisers and still do are training. You say it's a two headed dragon. I'm not saying its just firefighters doing the fund raising. We have associate memmbers. I'm just saying if there a will theres a way to help you're budget. You can either complain about you're budget or do somthing about it.
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South Fulton does something about it. They charge subscription fees for their clients who reside outside of their city limits.
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I forgot to add. Alot of are memmbers are insructors. 2 of are memmbers wrote the pump manual for the state. Just becuase we do alot of fundraisers dont mean we dont do training. My volunteer agency is run like a paid fire department. We run ems and fire.
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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
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Yeah, but it's not fair. What if you pay for the fire protection, but don't have a fire?
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