Firefighters Let House Burn Because Owner Didn't Pay Fee

Dthief writes "From MSNBC: 'Firefighters in rural Tennessee let a home burn to the ground last week because the homeowner hadn't paid a $75 fee. Gene Cranick of Obion County and his family lost all of their possessions in the Sept. 29 fire, along with three dogs and a cat. "They could have been saved if they had put water on it, but they didn't do it," Cranick told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. The fire started when the Cranicks' grandson was burning trash near the family home. As it grew out of control, the Cranicks called 911, but the fire department from the nearby city of South Fulton would not respond.'"

Comments

Re:Uh..

[0123456]

NO, you bill them for the cost, not the missed payment. The entire cost. which I believe is about 7500 dollars.

While I agree that would have been a better solution, if they won't pay a whole $75 a year to have firefighting service (which is negligible compared to the cost of maintaining the average house), what makes you think they'll pay a bill for $7500 after you put the fire out?

Re:Why not just bill him?

[mark-t]

There is a world of difference between refusing to insure somebody after the fact and deliberately letting somebody's house burn down because they won't pay a fee to stop it. The former is common business sense. The latter is blackmail. As it was, the lives of the family's pets were lost because of their inaction, but what if there had been a person in that house who died because the firefighters didn't do their job? What if the fire had spread out of control, and caused far more damage than just this person's property, simply because they didn't act on the situation as soon as they were notified?

Re:Well Duh

[osgeek]

I like this method for two reasons:

1. You're explicitly paying for a service that's useful. When government takes your money in a lump sum, they tend to do all kinds of other crap with it. See the Social Security fund for a great example.
2. If you want fire protection you have to write a check. That's better than having it deducted from your taxes automatically. Once that happens, the amount creeps higher and higher without anyone noticing and without the government feeling like they need to reign in the price of the service.

Government a la carte would be a great way to increase the fiscal efficiency of our government.

Re:You're kidding, right?

[fyngyrz]

Insurance companies would no longer exist if this were the case.

They're a very bad idea anyway. That's why universal healthcare should be put into place.