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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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- 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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"...even though the owner offered to pay what ever they wanted!"
Apparently the sheriff should now go arrest the homeowner for attempted bribery of a public official.
Good thing the fire chief didn't take the bribe - he could have been charged with extortion.
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Ummm, that might be how you want it to work, but the county in question has another system - one to which they have a perfectly legal right.
The county taxpayers in question have repeatedly determined that they can't afford ANY fire department, let alone the large number of resources your community has.
Other community's shouldn't be forced to do it your way. If so, where does it stop?
A logical extension of what you advocate is for your fire department to shrink it's budget and to give the difference to Obion County so that they can have the same level of services as what you expect.
After all, if it's that important, your fire district should have to help out and do your fair share, right?
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Not true, Andrew.
South Fulton FD responds to life threats regardless of subscription or not.
It doesn't need to be addressed, because it already has been addressed.
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There's this little tactic called "Exposure Protection", Herb.
Maybe you've heard of it?
It comes two tactics before "Extinguishment" in the well-known RECEO-VS tactical mneumonic.
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VIc, actually, it's "Faux moral superiority", but good point, anyway.
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A "law suite"???
Is that the same thing as a lawyer's office containing multiple rooms?
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Amazing - some people insist that others pay taxes that they are not themselves willing to pay?
Hypocrisy, indeed.
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Herb,
Once again you go for bogus personal attacks instead of addressing the issues.
It's seemingly all you're capable of.
And Herb, I did answer the tactics and strategy question, and once again debunked your bogus positions.
Once again, your bogus claims have been proven to be B.S.
I'm still wondering how you can claim that the homeowner's bribery attempt aimed at the fire chief is the MORAL thing to do...
Apparently, you're now advocating that refusing a bribery attempt is moral?
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Herbie, my child,
Now you're advocating for additional unethical practices based on the fact that others got away with it?
So much for your claims of "MORAL".
And Herbie, my little lad, you haven't kept your word to me at all.
And Herbie, little guy, I didn't attack you at all. I pointed out that your ideas and the things you advocated were't MORAL, based on facts that you blatantly ignored. You, on the other hand, attacked me personally, and you did it more than once.
You're very confused. You can't even figure out the difference between a debate over an idea and a personal attack. Now that I've pointed it out to you, you have no excuse.
And Herb, I'll be expecting you to start immediately paying taxes to Obion County, Tennessee. After all, you believe that "they deserve the help". Anything short of that would be quite hypocritical.
And Herbie, my little child, your accusation that I'm "worked up" is bogus, and it always will be. I don't get worked up, Herbie, my tiny one, over people who tell us that the fire chief should have taken a bribe and that his refusal wasn't "MORAL".
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"This is a reason and room to change, but the people of the are have to desire a better life before this can happen."
All of those people seem to already have a "better life" except for one shortsighted homeowner.
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That example is not pertinent to this situation, and that has been pointed out to you repeatedly here.
The people of Obion County have chosen the system they want, and you don't get to decide for them.
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For what? The fire department did EXACTLY what they were supposed to do.
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