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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 Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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And don't forget this: http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/tennessee-council-pla...
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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writertee,
All you do is speak in platitudes. It's actually easy, a no-brainer in fact, to say how immoral it was, how there's a moral obligation to put out that fire, how shameful it all was. They're platitudes comprising a specious argument.
I find it amazing the uproar over someone who willfully chose NOT to pay his subscription fee. How was it that suddenly he had the money (his checkbook out) but couldn't (after 3 letters and a phone call as reminders) to pay his fee beforehand? The homeowner made a decision not to pay, regardless of whatever assumptions he made he made a conscious decision not to pay. He felt his home, belongings, family and pets were not worth the $75. Now THAT is a shame. That simple inaction on his part sent a loud message, 'I don't believe my stuff is worth $75.' Yet you and so many others think that in spite of his own lack of interest in his belongings that others should, regardless, risk their own life and safety for something the owner himself didn't care about? THAT is shameful.
Following your particular run of logic, there should be no such thing as going defensive on the fire ground. All efforts should be expended to save the structure, at any cost simply because a fire department has an obligation to do so. But believe it or not there are times when a defensive action is the best course of action. No life safety issues then no reason to risk our lives. But I'm betting you'd be on your high horse calling that action shameful as well.
It's far too easy to monday-morning-quarterback (even when you have no personal knowledge or experience), especially when all you spout are homilies and platitudes. The decision that chief made, based on his instructions from his boss, was probably the hardest decision he ever had to make. And he's probably spent a lot of sleepless nights over it. But the slippery slope exists. Allow one to not pay and there's no reason for anyone else to pay. It was a lesson by experience.
Moreover, what you're preaching is that the financial obligation of the many should be morally born by the obligated few. That is neither fair nor moral, yet it's what you're preaching. And that is shameful.
Yet when it's all said and done I'm left to wonder just exactly how liberal and compassionate you truly are. To condemn the fire department and the firefighters as a whole with your preachy broad brush and your condescension and finger pointing in here suggests that you lack the compassion you preach and make statements not backed up by actions. And that makes you a mutt.
What you say is hollow and nothing more than the clanging of a bell. Loud, immediate and of no particular purpose other than to make noise.
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Permalink Reply by Fireslayer960 on
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Yes Chief! I have been following the miners story! Did you read the part where, the escape pod will be equipped with dynamite, so that as the miner is being rescued, if the shaft becomes to narrow, he can widen it? I could write a list of questions about that issue! No, not derogatory remarks or cheap shots, but questions. Like how can he do that? If indeed he is in the pod and he has to use dynamite, where does the debris go? wouldnt it fall down on top of his pod?
But, before I get chastised for going off topic, WOW! I clicked on that link and read the comments! Some of those people were stooping WAY too low! So low, their comments are not even worth repeating!
Jack, I didnt get that opinion after watching all of the videos. I doubt Mr Cranick was throwing anybody under anything. But anyway,,,
Here is some more food for thought. Someone pointed out that this Chief is new. Someone also mentioned that The SFFD has three firefighters. Well, if you check out their website from 2009, at that time they had 19 firefighters.
So that makes me wonder, and I am just speculating here, was this the issue that resulted in 75% of the department vanishing? I say vanishing because I have no idea if they quit or were fired but it is one of those things that makes me go,,,hmmmm. Or maybe that the brother from the neighboring department meant that there were only three members "On scene"
One thing is for sure, It is going to be real hard to recruit volunteers in South Fulton for awhile,,,,
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Answering a question with a question equals "ducking the original question".
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Was the grandson the same one who later went to the fire station and assaulted the chief, or was this another member of this downtrodden, set-upon, kindness-deprived family?
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Art,
If those numbers are accurate, that means that the 60% that don't pay are covered by fire departments that don't charge subscriptions. Some of them, like Union City are larger and better funded by their cities, and they may be more financially able to subsidize the county fire protection.
The latest is that the county council is considering making subscriptions mandatory for all county residents. I'm not sure that's the best answer, but it's apparently the one the county residents want - or at least the one that they're the most likely to accept.
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Nicely said.
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Philly, you are incorrigible. Don't ever change!
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Ben:
That's because 60% of them won't pay.
Apparently, there is no legal way to get them to pay.
The only option is to not provide service to the ones who don't pay and look at the mess that's gotten the fire departments in.
Some want to believe that it's about the money and don't understand that it's WAY bigger than that.
The easy thing to do is to tell the fire department to respond regardless of who paid.
They want to compare subscription to taxes, but the bottom line is, at least in Illinois, is that SOMEONE pays the taxes. If I don't pay my property tax, which funds the fire protection, then someone will "purchase" my taxes. Then, the taxes are paid, but I owe whomever bought my taxes and must now pay them; most likely more than they paid. There are no tax scofflaws. If someone lets their property go for the taxes, then whoever buys the property will pay taxes.
It is completely different than subscription.
We get two and sometimes three tax disbursements. We see the anticipated tax receipts and then the actual disbursement. We are getting every bit of it.
No one is getting fire protection for free. Every household in our district pays.
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Herb,
Thank you. I really tried to keep our discussion - as heated as it was - about the idea, and not about the person discussing it.
That's why I try to use the rules of logic in debates, particularly ones that raise the kind of emotions a this one does.
If you'll notice, I really tried to focus my discussion on your ideas, not on you. If I did otherwise, it wasn't something that I normally do, and I apologize for it.
I have no problem with you having strong feelings about this situation. I have no problem with you disagreeing with me. I just wanted to point out that there was a lot of misinformation about Obion County's fire non-system, and that the South Fulton fire chief, firefighters, and city fathers are not the bad guys here.
Do I like fire protection systems that are adequately funded, that don't have "No Fire Department Zones", and that don't require checking for a contract before extinguishing a fire - absolutely I do.
Am I going to condemn a fire department that is doing the best they can to take care of a much larger population outside their area just because the majority of those who bash them assume that their non-system is funded and organized the same as everyone elses' hometown FD? No on your life.
Once again, I apologize for anything I said that was personally offensive to you. I really tried to debate on the ideas, not on you personally. You have the right to believe whatever you wish on the topic. So do I. That doesn't make either of us immoral, unethical, wrong, bad, or whatever. It just makes us two guys with differing opinions.
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Wrong again, writertee.
You blamed and condemned me simply for having an opinion that differs from yours. You are still doing it.
That's a shame.
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