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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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Daniel, there are so many inaccuracies and logical fallacies in that post that it's difficult to sum them up, let alone respond to them all.
Let's start with "I'm not "in Tennessee" No one in Tennessee, Obion County, or the City of South Fulton is oppressed. In fact, they are anything BUT oppressed, becasue they got to choose their current system for fire protection themselves, and not have your style of fire protection crammed down their throats.
If Irving doesn't provide fire protection outside their jurisdiction, then why are you using a double standard for South Fulton and demanding that they do it? Obion County is outside South Fulton's jurisdiction, remember?
There was no human life at stake in the situation under discussion. Arguing that point is a Non Sequitur logical fallacy, because it's not germaine.
The biggest mistake you made is in thinking that the peoiple of either Obion county or the City of South Fulton don't have the power of change. The fire protection in South Fulton and the lack of fire protection for non-subscribers in Obion County are EXACTLY what the voters want. You can't get more Constitutional than that.
The government - in this case, two governments are not corrupt. They are doing EXACTLY what the local citizens want them to do.
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Permalink Reply by Herb Genelly III on
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I'm curious as to why no one can acknowledge that the policy of not putting out a fire in a Non-Subscriber's home can NOT be applied EVENLY, so it makes it a POOR policy, resulting in the situation in Olbion TN.
There are times where it would be either Tactically/Strategically prudent, or potentially live saving, to put out a fire in the non-paying home, so............they end up getting the service for free........and tax payers are footing the bill. It doesn't make it fair, but it still exists.
If I own a non-covered home, and it's right next door to a paid subscriber, say there's a 4 foot easement between property lines, and my neighbors home is getting convected, or direct flame impingement, they need to help put out my fire to help save the Subscribers home.
I for one, don't blame the FF's, and NEVER have. I never said disregard the Chief's orders either. The Chief though....gave me pause think;
While Fulton is surviving on an $8000 or so yearly budget, and on the fire scene, I had a guy with a check book offering to write me a check for several thousand dollars to extinguish the blaze, or whatever the total cost was calculated to be....(the neighbor's words...not mine), why don't you collect the Windfall of almost half your yearly budget to help the cause? Just saying'..................at tiems common sense trumps a policy that can cause so much problems.
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That's easy - it's because they made mistakes before under an old chief who is no longer the chief.
The old chief didn't do what he was supposed to do - enforce policy.
The new chief did his job and enforced the policy.
If they made that exception for everyone, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they soon will have no subscribers except for the ones whose property happens to catch fire. If that is the case, South Fulton won't be able to afford continuation of their services to Obion County, and then EVERY taxpayer will be worse off.
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Sorry, Eric, my mistake. My comment was directed at Daniel, not you.
I'll re-direct it.
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So tell me Ben..............is there EVER a situation where it's Tactically/Strategically prudent to extinguish a blaze in a Non-subscribers home...other than entrapment?
My example: A subscribers home is on fire, and it spreads to a non-subscribers. Do you let it burn Ben?
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Nice Ben.....you're so worked up, you shoot first, ask questions later.........LOL
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Yes, we realize it, and we realize that the practice was a mistake. The previous chief that made those mistakes is no longer the chief. The new chief is simply doing what he is suppsed to do.
You'd realize it, too, if you'd bother to look at the many other posts that have answered your question in other places.
Why do you keep resorting to personal attacks, Herb. ?
Avoiding personal attacks is the hallmark of honest debate.
Now let's ask YOU a couple of questions that I haven't seen you answer, despite being asked in many places.
Do YOU think it's ethical for South Fulton to provide free fire protection for one homeowner while charging his next-door neighbor a subscription fee for the same services?
Do YOU think it's ethical for the homeowner to duck the fee when he CHOSE to live in an area with no fire department and CHOSE to avoid paying the subscription fee?
Do YOU think it's fair for South Fulton to subsidize free fire protection for some county properties and not for others?
Do YOU think it's ethical to reward freeloaders?
And Herb, there was no life involved here. Any analogy involving life - like your days transporting patients - simply isn't pertinent.
The bottom line is that your blame is misplaced.
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Herb, that's just more B.S.
I'm not worked up at all.
I've asked the questions over and over, and you've consistently ducked them.
And for the record, this is at least the 4th time that you've responded to me after promising me that you were done with me.
Some track record of credibility you're establishing there, dude.
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"The fact that the Fire Chief can make the call based on how he feels..."
That's completely inaccurate, and you know it.
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Ben,
I love that I get you soooo worked up regarding my earlier posts. Ya just can't let go, and rehash week old stuff.
So....Here Goes.....Freeloaders are rewarded all the time. Like the folks who lost their jobs, homes, health insurance...everything Ben. They get help: food stamps, HUD housing, Medi-care/Medi-cal., and I think they deserve the help Benny my boy.
BTW.............I kept my word not responding to you, but since you're on a new mission of attacking me, and I have plenty of time.........bring it on. Hope you've got your Big Boy pants on...LOL
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"But the simple fact of allowing the chemicals into the air by allowing the home to burn is a crime itself based on Air quality control laws."
Really, Herb? Evidence, please?
Are you really that great of an expert on air quality control laws - especially in Tennessee?
And Herb, if the air quality control issue is a crime, then the homeowner, not the fire department or fire chief is the actual criminal.
How you get your services isn't pertinent unless you live in an unincorporated area of Obion County, Tennessee.
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According to the news stories, the cause and origin was an intentional outside burn that was - or should have been - within the homeowner's control.
...another reason that blaming anyone other than the homeowner is misplaced blame.
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