The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
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.
Related
- WPSD: Firefighters Watch as Home Burns to the Ground
- WPSD: More Fallout Following House Fire
- USAToday: Firefighters watch house burn because owner hadn't paid $...
- 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
-
Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
-
Prove it. Along the way, you may want to check on the government accounting rules as published by the GASB.
Those rules, first and foremost are designed to guarantee the long-term solvency of all government bodies - especially state and local governments. The way they do that is to put ALL revenue into designated funds - usually Debt Service, Capital Improvements, and (General Operating) Funds. If revenue doesn't have a designated fund location, it goes into the General Fund. If the local government doesn't earmark that revenue for a specific department, then that government has no obligation to spend the money on a specific service, piece of infrastructure, or salary and benefits.
And Blly, they're NOT "frauding the county residents" because the county residents who are subscribers get fire protection to the specified standard. That makes it IMPOSSIBLE for it to be a fraud.
Billy, no less an authority than the Governmental Accouting Standards Board (GASB)says that in the absence of contracted earmarks, South Fulton can indeed spend the money any way they want, and it's perfectly legal.
-
-
What part of "most of the county residents don't pay the fee" don't you get?
-
-
Wrong.
Review the Governmental Accounting Standards Board rules for governmental accounting for how it's done by state and local governments.
Unless they have a legislated or contracted earmark that puts a specific revenue stream into a specific fund, they can use ANY revenue in ANY manner they so choose, and it's perfectly legal.
-
Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
-
Billy,
You are only expressing what you think are the facts.
A $75 subscription fee paid to the City of South Fulton means THAT resident is entitled to fire protection (with an additional fee of $500 for a fire call). If the next door neighbor (sound familiar?) didn't pay then they DON'T get fire protection. Just because my neighbor pays for city water doesn't mean I'm entitled to even if I didn't pay my water bill.
Back to the fee; it's up to the city to decide where and how they want to apply the collected subscription fees. I suppose the mayor could use it to give himself a raise. It is NOT fraud (no matter how desperately you want it to be). I believe the fee is considered to be unencumbered, in other words, it's not earmarked for anything, including fire protection. In connecticut ALL sales taxes go into the General Fund, meaning they can be used as the legislation desires.
Back to your case for fraud: Unless you have some documentation that specifically calls for all fees collected to be applied ONLY to the fire department and ONLY for out-of-district fire protection, then I believe that you're talking out of your....well, you get the idea.
-
Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on
-
Who knows and who cares how their budget works? That is irrelevant to the topic at hand. County residents can choose to buy fire protection, or can choose not to.
I looked at the FEMA grant (thanks for the link) and it was for equipment and PPE. I don't see how this obligated them to extend their coverage to neighbouring districts. I would envisage operational costs would be tagged as such, and I don't know that FEMA has a granting program for day-to-day expenses.
-
-
Thanks, Vic, it doesn't.
How their budget works is pertinent when "fraud" is alleged.
Of course, it's difficult to prove fraud when most of the money in the alleged fraud is imaginary, because no one paid it.
-
Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
-
Ben,
It's looking less like the Chilean mine rescue and more like the Labors of Sisyphus every time you roll the rock up the hill.
-
Permalink Reply by Billy Lilly on
-
Most could be described as 60% dont pay. But 40% does. Becuase 60 % is greater then 40 %. Get the point. Once you call it a fire fee. it is ear marked. Or should be. Kinda sounds like to me the county is supporting the town.
-
-
Imaginary payment percentages are no different than imaginary subscription fees.
-
-
...last updated on 12/31/09. Out-of-date information?
-
-
South Roane County VFD is around 400 miles away from South Fulton.
Their fire grant has exactly what to do with this???
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
