Tennessee Firemen Ignore Burning House Over Unpaid Subscription Fee

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Sorry, you won't convince me that there's any 'best interest' or 'risk tolerance' in not purchasing fire department coverage. This wasn't insurance. That's neither cynical nor an optimistic view on life. It's just a bad idea.

This is really just a cost/benefit issue at heart - obviously we have different ideas of how to balance it, but "bad idea" is kind of silly. Amenities of city life can be outrageously expensive and difficult to provide in the country - it would be a bad idea to say, across the board, that no amount of cost is too high for something like a rural fire department.

It's pretty much the worst place to push a 'small government' argument in my opinion. And no, no one's been successful at influencing it.

Ha, fair enough. I'm not pushing a general "small government" agenda here - I think most "small government" proponents are really just running a NIMBY argument under the guise of something vaguely constitutional - but rather, in this specific instance, this seems like a fine time to allow an individual a (very simple) choice.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

This is really just a cost/benefit issue at heart - obviously we have different ideas of how to balance it, but "bad idea" is kind of silly. Amenities of city life can be outrageously expensive and difficult to provide in the country - it would be a bad idea to say, across the board, that no amount of cost is too high for something like a rural fire department.

Which is why I said if it were $2k we could talk but that if $75 provides coverage then it's a lose-lose situation for all involved with no benefit to not providing the services via a mutual agreement between the county/municipality and paying for it via taxes.

If it were $2k either the person would be living on a mountain cliff accessible only by goat or the municipality would be charging unreasonable prices and the county should find a different solution. Not providing fire department coverage is still not the right answer.

Additional 'what ifs' could be thrown in here, but the fact of the matter is, the guy lives in an area accessible by the fire dept and well within their ability to provide such services otherwise they wouldn't be offered. Said services are provided at a 'cost' of $75. In that situation the guy should have bought the services. However, I still find no reason on the county, city or individual's part that they should be optional in the first place.