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No Pay? No Play!
Here's another story of a homeowner who didn't pay the subscription fee for fire protection, believing that, if he had a fire, the fire department would come anyway.
He was wrong.
This follows the same line of thinking of districts who shut down their departments, believing that, if they needed fire protection, they could rely on mutual aid.
What is wrong with that thinking?
Read the story from Tennessee: http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Firefighters-watch-as-home-bur...
TCSS.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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And as a fire department trustee, I would counter sue and make sure that attorney fees and court costs are included in the outcome that will go in favor of the fire department in this case.
Sorry; I can't protect everyone from themselves.
And as is this case, he was not entitled to the services that we provide.
Regardless of how bad it looks and it looks bad; law and the many precedents will favor the fire department in this case....wait; is Tennessee a blue state?
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Permalink Reply by Steven on
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Here's an idea: We have a local sidewalk ordinance that, among other things, stipulates that if the village determines sidewalk on your property needs to be fixed (or needs to be put in place because adjacent properties have it) the village will eventually do it, but send you a bill for the work. If you don't pay the bill, it goes on your taxes, if you don't pay that, eventually your house could be foreclosed on by the county.
Why not do the same thing if you have a fire on your property? Pay the $75 a year fee (or whatever it might be) for fire protection. If you don't pay the fire, the department will still put out your fire, but you will get a bill for the job (which would be significantly higher than $75.) If you don't pay the bill, it goes on your taxes, etc...
The fire gets put out, lives and property are protected, including your neighbors. You assume the responsibility of choosing not to pay the fee which is now having to fix your home (if it wasn't a total loss anyway) and paying back the fire department for the work they did. Hope you're smart enough to pay your homeowners insurance.
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If the fire department and the municipality had a standing policy in place that clearly states that if your house catches fire and you haven't paid the fee you're SOL then there's no case. And yes, a counter-suit by the municiality to protect the taxpayer's interests would be more than appropriate.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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I wouldn't be so pessimistic about that. Fire protection is a buy-in service offered by the City of South Fulton. The actual fire department itself is paid for by the residents of South Fulton. There is no obligation for them to provide fire protection unless you've subscribed. Just because the paper boy is paid to stop at your neighbor's house doesn't mean that you should get a paper too, just because.
How would that law suit be worded? The plaintiff contends that the City of South Fulton failed to have an obligation to protect residents in other communities that don't contribute to the municipal fire protection services. Furthermore, said municipal fire department failed to deliver goods and services it never promised to render, for a fee it never received. Plaintiff further contends that said municipal fire department should have perceived that plaintiff was incapable of making the necessary and correct judgment and should therefore be held resonsible for all damages and costs associated with said complaint.
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Permalink Reply by Karr Quintero on
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well in all fairness the bill should be equal to the amount of time you owned the property without the subscription. 1 year=75, 2=150 and so forth
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so he's coverd?
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Luechtefeld on
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Chief, you know darn well that Tennessee - in Dixie - is bright, libertarian, Don't Tread On Me red.
This case is being discussed by both sides of the political spectrum as a means of illuminating competing visions of governance...
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/04/county-firefighters-subscription/
http://aleksandreia.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/real-life-us-example-o...
From the right:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/248649/pay-spray-firefighters-...
http://www.politicalbyline.com/2010/10/04/this-is-not-good-for-libe...
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It's interesting that one article states that the homeowner's offer to 'pay anything' is actually an enforceable contract. Funny, I would have thought that it would be dismissed as 'signing under duress." I guess it's dependent upon how you happen to view individual and government responsibilities.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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or if it is you that may benefit or the other guy.....it would be nice if we didn't have to pay for car insurance...but if we got into an accident then we could quickly write a check and be covered.......sort of the same thing here I think.
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Oh, man, it just gets better. In response to this fiasco, the Obion County commissioners decided to *expand* the subscription service area. This is over the objection of the fire chief, who favors a tax. County-wide fire service could be established using only 0.13% valuation:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/05/after-firefighters-obion-expands/
I guess the Obion County commissioners - Republicans all - fear the "camel's nose in the tent" of establishing a new tax.
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Dan:
I thought TN was blue. You know; home state to Al Gore and all. :-)
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Permalink Reply by Alex Guzzetta on
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Wait, fire departments actually incur costs that need to be paid for to provide services??? I thought I just received a tone from my free pager, raced to the free station, jumped into my free bunkers, hopped on one of our 4 free engines and used my free training to put the fire out all while being covered under our free insurance plan...
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