Tennessee Firemen Ignore Burning House Over Unpaid Subscription Fee

[navane]

I am a Volunteer Firefighter. Interestingly enough, on a firefighter discussion board I frequent, the guys there are pretty horrified that the department did not put out the fire. The International Association of Firefighters (IAFF, the firefighter union) has spoken out against this city's policy and believes that firefighters should not have to check who has paid and who hasn't before responding to a call.

And yes, rest assured, if there were people inside the home, I know in my heart that firefighters would go in for the rescue. I just couldn't fathom a firefighter letting a person die for lack of a subscription fee.

.....Kelly

[deepimpact2]

Originally Posted by navane

I am a Volunteer Firefighter. Interestingly enough, on a firefighter discussion board I frequent, the guys there are pretty horrified that the department did not put out the fire. The International Association of Firefighters (IAFF, the firefighter union) has spoken out against this city's policy and believes that firefighters should not have to check who has paid and who hasn't before responding to a call.

That's the kind of reaction I would expect from normal, compassionate human beings.

I don't even know why anyone would try to justify something like this. And the fact that someone was going to pay the firefighters when it happened, and they still wouldn't do it is just suspicious to me. I wonder if there is more going on behind the scenes. What kind of people could just let a house burn? I wouldn't want people like that serving in any type of rescue capacity in my city. That's just sick.

And where I live, all of that is built into the annual taxes. But even if someone is delinquent on those taxes and it could be argued that they didn't pay their "fee," the fire department would still be called to put out a house fire.


Karma is not a game and I have a strong feeling that these people are going to reap what they have sown. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to take such a position and stick with it when to do so is morally wrong.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

I still don't see it as an either/or situation. I get that they probably didn't want to pay more in taxes, however I don't see why the county couldn't contract with the city and charge the country residents via county taxes.

For whatever reason that none of us are privy to (though I can imagine it might have had to do with county residents not wanting to be taxed anymore than they already were), the elected government officials in this particular county chose to contract with fire departments to make fire protection a subscription service rather than to automatically provide it to all residents through taxation. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume with local government of this kind that if contituents had wanted it done differently, they would have been able to pursuade their elected officials to do it differently or would have elected new people.

I can see the arguments as to why it's bad policy, but I can also see that this is democratic local government in action -- they can weigh the policy considerations for themselves and decide how they want to handle it. We can second guess them all we want to, but they get to make the call for themselves.

[thetygerlily]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

For whatever reason that none of us are privy to (though I can imagine it might have had to do with county residents not wanting to be taxed anymore than they already were), the elected government officials in this particular county chose to contract with fire departments to make fire protection a subscription service rather than to automatically provide it to all residents through taxation. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume with local government of this kind that if contituents had wanted it done differently, they would have been able to pursuade their elected officials to do it differently or would have elected new people.

In light of such a publicized issue, I wonder if this county- or any others- will be revisiting this policy. I'd be curious to see whether anything actually changes a year or two from now... or if they want to keep things as they are.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by thetygerlily

In light of such a publicized issue, I wonder if this county- or any others- will be revisiting this policy. I'd be curious to see whether anything actually changes a year or two from now... or if they want to keep things as they are.

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

ETA: Looks like one or more of the individual fire departments have been in contact with the municipalities to try to get a fire tax for the county, but they got a lot of pushback.

According to the press conference I saw on MSNBC, the individual fire departments have been trying to get something done for at least 2 years. The municipalities and their residents weren't too keen on making changes, though.