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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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.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 17, 2010 at 4:47pm

Rhetorical question, Philly?

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 17, 2010 at 4:59pm

Jayne, Since you apparently haven't checked out the content of the many news sources, web sites, blogs, and 50 pages of comments in this thread on the topic...

The South Fulton FD did NOT "do that to their community." Their community is the City of South Fulton. The fire occurred outside their city in an unincorporated area of Obion County that has NO fire protection by the county resident's choice. That choice has bee reiterated over and over, for at least 20 years.

The City of South Fulton FD has a duty to serve and protect those who live and work within their city limits and their contracted subscribers in the unincorporated suburbs outside the city.

The fire in question occurred on property that is not included in either of the above, thus the fire department had no duty nor obligation to serve.

The property owner had either refused at least 4 notices to renew his fire protection contract or ignored those notices. The blame is his and his alone.

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Permalink Reply by jim collier on October 17, 2010 at 5:01pm

I think this is bull if the man had ins. are the money to pay them when they got there put it out sometimes u forget thinks how would yhey feel if it was there house on fire

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 17, 2010 at 5:09pm

Please read the articles and supporting documentation. They've tried that. They had a 50% non-paymenbt rate. The switched to only protecting those who had a contract in advance.

The homeowner said "I thought they'd put it out anyway." He was wrong. It is 100% his fault.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Stamey on October 17, 2010 at 6:16pm

Then when their home burns, they need to look in the mirror

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 17, 2010 at 6:25pm

That's the point several of us have been making for 60 pages of comments that blame the fire department.

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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on October 18, 2010 at 10:43am

I realize that many have little time to research this issue as in depth as some of the others, but when you want to jump on the high moral horse of indignation, your comment holds very little credibility because you haven't weighed your opinion against both sides of the issue.
There was a total failure of an entire process here and you cannot cut a small slice such as "they should have put the fire out anyway" and believe that is the only issue here. It is not.
It is much bigger than a one sentence pronouncement.
If it was as simple as some of you make it, it wouldn't be all over the TV news, talk shows and internet blogs...
And many opposing camps of opinions.

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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on October 18, 2010 at 11:13am

Ben,

Did you just answer a rhetorical question with a rhetorical question? (Did I just answer a .........)

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 18, 2010 at 8:28pm

Yes to all of the above...

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Permalink Reply by ashfire on October 20, 2010 at 4:15pm

Well if what I read on Yahoo is right Obion County Mayor(Should be Executive) and commissioners have voted to extend subcription service throughout the whole county. Many of the people and some fire dept personnel ar not happy with the idea which will take place next year.