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And they watched it burn, again...
Before you comment read my whole post...
Well the story has broke again. I made this prediction in the many threads from the last fire in 2010 that got the FFN boards lit up. History repeats itself in the fire service. The homeowner this time admits they knew the past story of "Pay for Spray" in 2010 and about the $75.00 fee. They said quote, "never thought it would happen to them."
Here is the news video: http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Home-burns-while-firefighters-...
In my opinion, the FD who refuses to put out the fire is doing the right thing. As hard as that may seem, if the FD provides the service for free, then nobody in the county will pay. This story has been going on for many years. For those who don't know, the county has NO fire department, the residents know this. Many move there because it is cheaper to live there. Past studies have been done to reccommend providing fire protection services but it will cost the homewowner more in their county taxes. The county administrators have decided to keep it "Pay for Spray" meaning a neighboring fire department who does NOT have any jurisdictional requirement to respond to your county residence, is allowed to offer their services to each individual homeowner for $75.00 per year. If you pay the $75.00 subscription service, you will get a response and mitigation from the neighboring FD. This is not mutual aid, this is not automatic aid. This is paying for fire protection from a contractor. If you don't pay the fee, the FD has told everyone numerous times, no pay = no service.
In my opinion the lack of FD action keeps the integrity of the lousy system in place. The people who pay are getting services when needed and they are NOT subsidizing their neighbors lack of payment. The fire department unfortunately gets caught up in the media and the "passion police" when the story of "they just watched it burn" After the last story unfolded, many neighboring chiefs came out and tried to explain how small of a budget this fire department has, one chief even mentioned the fire chief sometimes, empty's the soda machine to buy fuel for his trucks with change.
So instead of continuously being the bad guy, I suggest the Mayor and the Fire Chief tell the county administrators that they are done offering subscriptions next year. Therefore no more subscription service to the county and the COUNTY will now have to fund their own protection services. The administrators will then have to assess a fire tax to their residents to fund either a volunteer fire department(s) or pay for services from another FD for every county residence.
Time to end the subsciption mess...... it is a black eye to the one's who have to enforce the rules and the integrity.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Exactly right, Jack.
The Obion County rural residents get exactly the fire protection they want - either a subscription to a neighboring city FD or no fire protection at all. Either way, the neighboring city FDs are in no way responsible for the county residents' choices.
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It is also interesting how many of the anti-SFFD comments include a confused argument that people should have freedom of choice but that in Obion County, fire taxes should be forced on the majority by the minority.
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The moral thing to do in this case is exactly what the SFFD did - refuse "free rider" status to someone who intentionally refused to opt in to the system that is in place there. The Obion County residents have voted over and over against ANY tax for a county FD.
Who are you to claim that it is moral to refuse to do the will of the people - the will that the Obion County taxpayers have repeatedly demonstrated?
Extrication is not the issue here - it's fire protection for property. Please do not confuse the issue by injecting a hypothetical extrication call that has nothing to do with the actual issue.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Menees on
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Ben, thanks for "standing tall", I wonder how many of the SO-CALLED EXPERTS that have said things about this situtation are even award of the REAL facts. The Union City Daily Messenger, our local paper quoted the woman involved with the fire - "she KNEW the SFFD could NOT respond to the fire and she was GLAD they were there to protect others property and to attempt rescue IF IT WAS NEEDED" - If people would JUST GET THE FACTS before they start "shooting" off with their mouths - a LOT of grief would be spared to a lot of people that ALREADY know the facts and have to follow the law - WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT....enough said. Just remember that WPSD in Paducah WILL twist a story in order to make news for themselves, which is why so many here do not watch channel 6 news.
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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Tom,
As is too often the case, facts only get in the way of some people's opinions. And equally true is that (too) many people (in here) just don't bother to read any included links nor do they bother to read anyone else's comments, so their lack of facts means they are effectively immunized against knowledge. [In other words they are proudly ignorant.]
Of course there are those self-indulgent individuals who figuratively pound the table and pronounce that they could never stand by and watch someone's house burn down. They then go on to malign those frustrated FF's that were ordered to stand down, as though the firefighters themselves refused to put out the fire.
It's a sad commentary that some firefighters would sooner blame the SFFD than to ever believe that they were innocent pawns in a game of economic russian roulette..
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Jack/dt - you said a mouthful - well done.....as they say - "You Can't Fix Stupid"
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Tom,
Hey brother, I am on your side, that is why I started this thread. My original post at the very top spells it out pretty clear. It is the policy, and by breaking the policy and doing things on your own or for your own personal beliefs crumbles the integrity of the system. (right, wrong or indifferent) A system whether anyone here or there likes or not, but it is how the citizens of this area seem to want it to be.
I understand the dynamics of the situation, just can't seem to grasp why it is so hard for other firefighters, makes me wonder how much freelancing is going on at fires everyday.
Bill
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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
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Bill,
It has less to do with freelancing and more to do with a sense of moral superiority. (Or just drinking way too much of the Kool Aid.)
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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I'll go with kool-aid.......I mean after all, such folks were all placed in similar positions to speak so authoritatively to those of us without such moral superiority.
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We have a similar situation around my way. There is a bordering town so small they have no fire department. BUT instead of setting up old school subscription system, that town taxes their property owners for fire protection and it is contracted with the neighboring city. The tax per 1000 assessed value of their home is cheap compared to trying to run and fund your own VFD. Besides, for a small town of 200, that small protection tax on their tax bill gets them fulltime coverage, highly trained and certified firefighters delivering Fire, Specialized Rescue, ALS Ambulances and Level A Hazmat Team.
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Well said, brother Jack!
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Tom, hang in there. I understand that none of the local firefighters like the situation, but that you're dealing with a bad situation in the only way you can while still trying to keep the local fire departments solvent over the long haul.
It never ceases to amaze me that, as Jack said below, some people don't let the facts get in the way of their opinions.
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