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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 Rich Manning on
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Not sure if I so much blame the duty crew, but someone needs to answer to this. These people lost their home over $75.00!!!!?????!!!?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! Whatever happened to preservation of Life and Property?
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Permalink Reply by Mark Klaene on
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So I haven't seen any mention of this yet in the threads so I'l ask the question.
In a "pay for service area " and the homeowner doesn't pay does their insurance and mortgage companies know that they have absolutely no fire protection? I am sure there are some homeowners in rural areas that may not carry insurance or have a loan but for those that do I can't see either the insurance or a lender agreeing to not paying. $75 should easily cover the difference in homeowners insurance between having some fire protection and having none.
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Permalink Reply by Rick on
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First and foremost, I must say I am very thankful not to live/volunteer in a place that puts it members in that type of predictment. When I started reading this I was discouraged that any department would do this...but after reading every post...there is some more light shown on the issues. I hope as someone mentioned that the home owners in this area were completely informed of the choices they made, by not paying for the coverage. Having them sign something annually would at least be one way of making sure they were informed. We all can say: we would have done this or done that. Yes, I am all about following orders (I have the whole military thing going for me), this is one that would definitely be a tough one to follow. Being an Assistant Chief, I know that money don't grow on trees and we need all the funding we can get. So making sure everyone is doing their part to help is the utmost important, whether it be though taxes or buy-in. I hate to say one way is better than another, but this really shows some short falls. I hope this community finds some way to work through this, and I hope that the other non-paying members understand why the FF did what they did.
Where I live we provide services to a boarding town, because we are closer than the next department within the town's limits. Some years they are months late paying us the taxes that are owed to us to provide fire service, for what ever reason, should we not go and respond to calls in that district? It is not the homeowners fault we didn't paid....Again, just glad that it is our departments policy to respond, and not place our members in this dilema.
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regardless of the facts,
I suspect the only long term memory people will have of this whole incident is
" firefighters stood around and watched as a home burnt to the ground"
and that my friends is a black mark on all of us.
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Permalink Reply by Herb Genelly III on
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Just to make things interesting; Who determines Cause & Origin? Can the good folks of TN, who live in the Subscription area, but haven't paid, set their house on fire to collect insurance money? Now that the home is burned to the ground, and no Chain of Evidence has been preserved, the homeowner is going to start receiving easy $$$.
Humm..................was it good acting? I doubt it.............but can it happen if the contracted agency has to cherry pick their response due to the fee being paid/or not...........can you see an issue here?
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Permalink Reply by Chief Dino on
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The Bomb and Arson Investigation section of the Fire Prevention Division of the State Department of Commerce and Insurance has the responsibility for finding cause and origin.
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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Daniel,
I would ask that you please put a disclaimer on your statements. Not ALL of us in Texas share your ideals or opinions. Especially concerning vigilantism.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Daniel thats fine to demand that the public deserves services but the public in this county actually refuse to pay for them in taxes. They live in a county with no fire department...
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Yes, you are FACTUALLY right. But if the initial units did not preserve evidence, or suppress the fire to keep evidence from being destroyed........there's nothing to investigate according to the Supreme Court.
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Rogers on
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Ricky,
I would like to know what world you live in. It take MONEY to do this job. It cost on average about 3000 to 5000 dollars to outfit a firefighter in BASIC PPE, not counting SCBA. Thats for each firefighter. You cant just say "if you get money or not if its a fire you have a duty to put it out" There is order and structure in all fire departments, or at least their should be. This resident knew the local policy, he said so in the video clip. He knew their was a risk and didn't care enough about his home and property to pay the service fee. I am a volunteer firefighter/ EMR and I was trained in the difference between life safety and property. In this case their was no life at risk, so your point about someone being trapped is mute. I do agree that this community should start their own volunteer depatment, but I also think the department in question followed policy, orders, and provided a timely response to a individual whom they had a valid contract with. You can say right and wrong all day, sometimes its just not that simple. Just my humble opinion
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Art,
You are so right. Thanks for speaking the truth.
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Isn't it great to be right at the expense of the homeowner? I'd love to see you squirm in your jump seat of the engine, watching a house burn, with the homeowner begging for you to put the fire out, and you have your "Factually Right High Ground" analogy. LMAO
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