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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 John Crabbe on
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But once they do this subscription for fire protection. It means they are agreeing that its there juresdiction
Nobody is denying the fact that those who pay a subscription becomes part of said jurisdiction. The difference is those who don't pay.....as the case here....do NOT fall under the same jurisdiction. Also, the receipt of a grant in now way obligates a dept to provide fire protection outside their jurisdiction....including providing protection for NON-Subscribers.
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Real simple solution. You respond to the fire. You put the fire out as you are in this job to do. You submit a bill to the homeowner for the use of the trucks and manpower. A 75 dollar fee at the begining of the year just cost them 3,000 dollars.
Really not that simple Mike. If you go back and read some of the threads, especially by those who are familiar with this county, such attempts have been made in the past, with little, if any, payment to the FD for services. It is because of issues of fighting fires for free etc, that this issue has occurred.
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Permalink Reply by MH on
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Just posting the website someone said they wanted to look at since it appears they disabled their front page (indexpage), guess they need to do some updating IF the information has changed.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Bogus generalization and faux moralizing.
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And...if they don't pay, they you're back to square 1, except now you've just made a clearcut terms of service issue very confused.
It's not really that simple...
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It's also possible that their site crashed due to not having a lot of bandwidth.
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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on
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Ya see...this is the thing. None of this should be up for debate. This country is a democracy. The government represents us. Their government (made by the people) has consistently decided to run with this model for fire protection. I think they are nuts, but you know what? The citizens get to change their minds every couple of years and are more than welcome to "throw the bums out!"
This is (in it's own perverse way) fiscally responsible. User fees are the ultimate in "fairness." The problem is (and this is a problem with a lot of libertarian ideals) that people claim to want the freedom to choose, then (much like this homeowner) they want to be protected after the fact from their bad choices.
You can look at a large number of similar situations - anything ranging from Social Security to motorcycle helmet laws. Each one takes away some of your freedom because experience has shown us that I end up losing more of mine to make up for your bad choices. I would be madder than hell to have a non-subscriber game the system if I'd been paying my dues the whole time.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Writertee, calm down a bit. Your opinion is emotionally charged. Human decency has some personal responsibility on behalf of everyone involved. There has been other County chiefs from that area point out that some departments are so hurting for money that they are emptying the soda machine to replace the fuel in the trucks due to lack of payment. Therefore yes, it comes down to money.
What you missed is these people willingly chose to live in this area (the county) personal choice, they also gambled on paying the minimal subscription, another choice, all the while knowing they have NO FIRE DEPARTMENT in their town.
The fire department selling subscriptions is from another community, operating on an $8,000 budget, and have no duty to act to non-payers. This is not there resident, not there fellow community taxpayer, they are not responding mutual aid, they are providing contract fire services. Some Chief's have asked people to pay the $75.00 fee after the fire and many have stiffed the department for that as well.
When the soda machine kitty is empty, then those trucks are OOS for the community that makes their taxpayers pay taxes for those trucks, that equipment, and those men/women. Why, because the neighboring community next door has freeloaders, who got service for free.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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National shame? Really? Are you a hyperbole or a pomposity major?
And while you're at it, how about turning your pointy finger of judgment at the home owner who precipitated this entire issue due to his lack of foresight, penuriousness and ignorance.
You can't argue that.
P.s. And while you're certainly entitled to your opinions, the fact that you're not in the fire service or EMS, you really don't even belong in here.
Really, you're just pontificating.
You can't argue that.
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writertee please, get off your high moral horse. I have no need to walk in his shoes, I heard his first comment that he chose NOT to pay it. that's the only step I need to take to know that his cheapness caused his problem.
As for the rest, exactly which shoes are you walking in? You're not a fireman, not a medic, you seem to be wannabe or a hangeroner who is here to impress everyone with her razor sharp judgments and homilies.
Maybe you should find a site that would better suit your interests, whatever they may be.
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Dude are you completely delusional?
What a bunch of absolutist crap.
"No, Mr. Waller. National shame is upon you.' Complete B.S.
"You can't argue that." Sure I can. Are you illiterate? You apparently are unable to understand the concept of "honest debate".
"You want to argue money." When the local fire departments are scraping the change out of the soda machines to put fuel in the apparatus and the fire department is doing the county by responding outside the city limits when the county won't fund it's own department, damn right it's about money...and that misplaced blame you just posted.
"You can't argue that." More absolutist crap.
"You are defending the burning down of a house with fiscal policies." B.S.
"You can't argue that." More B.S. What burned down the house was the owner's careless use of fire, combined with his refusal to contract for fire protection from a department who did his neighbors a favor by responding out of their jurisdiction. The fiscal policy that burned down the house was the owner's false assumption that it was fair to get the same fire protection everyone else contributed to for free, despite repeated notices from the fire department.
"You didn't address human decency, except (earlier in this thread) that fiscal policies are your moral priority." That's a lie. I addressed the human decency of the South Fulton FD being able to continue to provide fire protection if everyone decides that they would take the Cranick's way out. I addressed the human decency of the South Fulton FD being willing to have city of 2,500 people subsidize a county of 30,000 by providing fire protection when they could legally, morally, and ethically stop their subscription program and refuse to respond outside the city limits. I addressed the human decency of the SFFD providing free fire protection outside the city limits if there's a life threat.
Most importantly, I addressed the complete lack of human decency from those of you who see only your own narrow view of human decency while ignoring the Greater Good that the SFFD provides.
Your anonymous attack is not-too-brave, and it's an example of a lack of human decency.
Nice double standards you have there, dude. Apparently, national shame is on you, using your own hypocritical standards.
I won't argue that.
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