Tennessee Firemen Ignore Burning House Over Unpaid Subscription Fee

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Because it took 20 years for a tragedy to happen to make them rethink it? I'm not a resident, so I wouldn't know. Status quo is hard to change without outside force.

Regardless as an outside observer, which is the only way any of us can comment, it was a terrible policy.

Maybe, maybe not. The citizens kept it in place for all of these years, though.

I feel like we'll be dancing in circles until the sun comes up, so I'll step back

FYI - there is a video of the Hornbeak (?) Fire Department chief on MSNBC.com for anyone that's interested. Looks like Hornbeak is about 30-40 minutes away from the South Fulton area.

ETA: Cranick is at the press conference as well. Looks like there are 8 fire departments in the county, 3 of which use subscription service.

ETAA: Someone asked if they thought the subscription service was a good idea. He replied that it was better than nothing. I think people forget that without this, they'd have nothing.

Also, Cranick said that the money was not an issue. If that's the case, why didn't he pay it in the first place?

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Maybe, maybe not. The citizens kept it in place for all of these years, though.

I feel like we'll be dancing in circles until the sun comes up, so I'll step back

FYI - there is a video of the Hornbeak (?) Fire Department chief on MSNBC.com for anyone that's interested. Looks like Hornbeak is about 30-40 minutes away from the South Fulton area.

ETA: Cranick is at the press conference as well. Looks like there are 8 fire departments in the county, 3 of which use subscription service.

ETAA: Someone asked if they thought the subscription service was a good idea. He replied that it was better than nothing. I think people forget that without this, they'd have nothing.

Also, Cranick said that the money was not an issue. If that's the case, why didn't he pay it in the first place?

We don't know how the citizens reacted over the course of 20 years. And, as other posters pointed out, the county could have made other arrangements besides an optional fee.

I cannot get into the minds of the people involved, I can only talk about on a policy level and an individual level from my perspective. It's the same for everyone else in this thread.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

We don't know how the citizens reacted over the course of 20 years. And, as other posters pointed out, the county could have made other arrangements besides an optional fee.

I cannot get into the minds of the people involved, I can only talk about on a policy level and an individual level from my perspective. It's the same for everyone else in this thread.

I get what you're saying. I hadn't heard of fire service subscriptions before. I do know, though, that when you're paying taxes in your city, it's covering residents of your city. Neighboring towns shouldn't be able to sponge off of each other.

And while it may not have been the best plan, it was the plan. If they wanted to ensure that their home was protected, they should have paid.

Hopefully, this will push the county into action and allow it to find a better solution. In the meantime, I won't be canonizing the Cranicks like some folks have done (not you, DF, people in general). They made a poor choice that, unfortunately, cost them everything. But it was their choice.

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.