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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.
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
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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writertree,
Here are two statements you made in adjacent posts...
"Someday it will be you or someone you love." That specifically discusses me and mine.
"I didn't tell you about you and yours."
Umm, yes you did, as cited immediately above.
Your denial is as bogus as your accusations.
And...in South Fulton's case, the long-term choice is indeed between "sucks to be you" and "sucks to be us". That's the choice they had under the circumstances, and they made the best one under the circumstances.
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That doesn't make it wrong for South Fulton to do differently.
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Billy,
You've been talking about nothing except money and making up imaginary ways that South Fulton can supposedly get more.
Isn't that just a teeny bit hypocritical?
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Billy,
I don't know and neither does anyone else except for the people who work for the City of South Fulton.
That's why your money figures and percentages are imaginary.
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So suddenly this is about South Fulton's tactics?
Apparently, the fire didn't travel to the subscriber's home, since it was not reported to burn or have other damage.
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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
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I wonder if she's hot?
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Permalink Reply by Fireslayer960 on
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Really, then why were they there in the first place? Did we forget that the fire did indeed cross the fenceline and that is why they responded?
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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And lastly, it was not the homeowner who started the burning barrel, it was his grandson,
Actually, in his first comments to the media he stated that HE was burning in the yard. It wasn't until later, once it started to become a 'media event' that he changed the story to it being his grandchildren.
Seems to me that if his grandchildren did start the fire, he threw them under the bush by placing the blame on them. Since he first admitted it, seems a bit cold to then later blame the kids.
In either event, what does it say about a grandfather who allows his grandchildren to BURN trash, unsupervised, illegally (no permit) and during a fire danger period? Of course, since he refused to pay the subscription fee he not only wantonly endangered his own property and his family but that of his neighbors too. Seems kind of immoral, doesn't it?
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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on
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I think the grandson was in his 20s.
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Ok, so first it was granpa, then he changed the story and threw his (grown) grandson(s) under the bus. Class act either way.
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Permalink Reply by MInnFIrefighter on
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Again, i say you are an idiot...
"first I would sue the department for emotional suffering as watching my house burn would have caused mental suffering"
Why cant some of you understand the FD did not create this policy.... and on another note do you think a fire department should be sued if they try to put out a fire and the house still burns to the ground? (judging from the level of intelegence you displayed above i would think you have been on plenty of those)
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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So, has this gotten any better or has the issues with the Cranicks unfortunate series of mistakes been resolved yet?
Have we got a new plan in place so that firefighters will not have to wrestle with their conscience to provide service?
See; what will happen is that the late comers will post a very emotional reply painting all firefighters and all fire departments with the same broad brush because they heard somewhere or read somewhere that a fire department LET a house burn.
I mean; you should check out the hate spew at this blog: http://firefighterblog.com/2010/10/south-fulton-fire-department-you....
I am personally fond of "hatefultaxpayer's" thoughtful reply. But he was responding to the way the blog was written.
Unless the folks in Obion County go to the county board meeting in a few more days to voice their concerns, you can bet with a better than average chance that this will happen again. And not just in Tennessee. There are subscription departments all over the U.S.
I agree with everyone who believes that one of the very few services that governments should provide is public safety, but it is up to the voters to properly fund it. EVERYONE should pay for a service that they may never need, but they shouldn't be allowed to NOT pay, because they think that they will never need it. It doesn't work that way.
By the way, Billy got his 40% who pay subscriptions from me. I read a story that quoted one of the chiefs who said that collection of subscriptions for the three who were doing it was 40%, which means that the other 60% were not paying, just like the Cranicks. Now; if 80% of all fires is outside the cities, what would you suppose the chances are that some who hadn't paid subscription got fire suppression anyway? (Herb; thanks for putting THAT one in my head!:-)
Anyway; get back to the debate. I want to see how it turns out.
Hey; did you see that Chile was rescuing some trapped miners?
Now; THERE'S a story.
TCSS.
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