Seems like your comparing apples & oranges. The insurance company is a busniess entity that’s either suppose to make a profit or pay it’s owners/shareholders. They pay for losses and but don’t save lives. On the other hand the Fire Dept. saves lives and fights fires. They do little else when they aren’t. When Fire Dept’s become profit making organizations then they can lose the compassion part of their jobs.
I believe it’s you that needs a reality check. The homeowner had a choice to contract for services and chose not to, either deliberately or accidently. All HUMAN LIFE was accounted for. Regardless of how important pets are to people, you think it’s okay to risk human beings to save an animal. Firefighters risk their lives enough. I should know. I have three brothers, all FDNY, and all involved with 911.
There may be a lawsuit, but they’ll lose. These people didn’t pay taxes for fire protection, nor did they pay the required fee. Plus, you have no idea whether the home could be saved. This was a mobile home, located outside the fire district, and would likely have been a total anyway.
There aren’t any laws broken here. If the chief let them fight the fire, it’s likely that would have broken a law or ordinance. Do you even know what Good Samaritan laws are? There wasn’t any human life in danger. Good Samaritans aren’t compelled to protect property.
So why did the firefighters stay there? IN CASE the field caught on fire? How did they know it would? They should have not responded at all if these people were not on the subscription list. They are supposed to respond to a field fire…did the the field owner pay the $75? Where is that fee coming from if paid at all? The facts are, indeed, the facts, but it sure seems cold hearted.
Agree that it’s not their job to risk their lives for animals. Never should be. But if you can spray water on adjoining land/brush, you can spray it on the mobile home. Firefighters, with all due respect to your brothers, shouldn’t make judgement calls on who to help unless their own safety & security precludes it. If they did, we’d have Fire Fighters and First Responders refusing service to some drunk or accident victim who has injured themslves by their own stupidity or drunkeness.
A similar fire service billing system was used in rural North Carolina decades ago. Several homes burnt and were total losses simply because a small fire service charge was not timely paid. In todays government bureaucracy of motor vehicle registrations, motor vehicle inspections, federal taxes, state taxes, county property taxes, city taxes, fire protection fees, multiple student forms, vaccination records, health care forms, etc…it would be nice if it could be made simpler.
Finally, a smarter system prevailed. The local fire department fee (tax) is added to the county real property and personal proprety tax billings. Just because your property taxes (fire tax)aren’t paid, doesn’t mean you don’t have fire protection. The fire tax is secured against the property as a tax lien.
Additional fire taxes are often collected in property insurance premiums. Theses funds become political grants for politicans to dole out to get re-elected.
I would agree the Good Samaritan laws should prevail and the official in charge should become personally liable for his failure to act. And if some other reason for his failure to act such as a personal gudge can be identified for his failure to act, then punitive damages should be levied against him.
Here is some additional information you need to know. Firefighterclosecalls.com quotes the homeowner Gene Cranick as saying “I thought they’d come out and put it out, even if you hadn’t paid your $75, but I was wrong,”. Sounds like this wasn’t a case of forgetting to pay but taking a chance and losing. Next, on fixfulton.org it indicates that the city commission decided more than 10 years ago that firefighters would not be allowed to respond to a fire at a non-subscriber location. This was a longstanding community policy, not something unexpected. Last, according to an ABCNEWS.com story earlier this year, Darlene Fairchild of New Castle, IN received a bill for almost $28,000 to cover the costs of her fire department’s services. If the fire department were not prevented by the rules from responding to Mr. Cranick’s house, would he be able to pay that kind of bill? If not, who would pay the bill?
From what I read, it wasn’t the responding firefighters who made the call, it was the chief. Again, no human life was in danger, just a mobile home and material possessions. The homeowner rolled the dice and lost. To their credit, they appear to be admitting it.
There is the other side. If South Fulton did not have this program of selling protection to people outside the city then more houses may have burned and nobody would blame South Fulton. This is the 2nd time the Cranick’s needed fire service and had not paid. What is a fire department to do? You can not do it without money. If you do not need to pay then nobody would. It is sad but true.
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Seems like your comparing apples & oranges. The insurance company is a busniess entity that’s either suppose to make a profit or pay it’s owners/shareholders. They pay for losses and but don’t save lives. On the other hand the Fire Dept. saves lives and fights fires. They do little else when they aren’t. When Fire Dept’s become profit making organizations then they can lose the compassion part of their jobs.
I believe it’s you that needs a reality check. The homeowner had a choice to contract for services and chose not to, either deliberately or accidently. All HUMAN LIFE was accounted for. Regardless of how important pets are to people, you think it’s okay to risk human beings to save an animal. Firefighters risk their lives enough. I should know. I have three brothers, all FDNY, and all involved with 911.
There may be a lawsuit, but they’ll lose. These people didn’t pay taxes for fire protection, nor did they pay the required fee. Plus, you have no idea whether the home could be saved. This was a mobile home, located outside the fire district, and would likely have been a total anyway.
There aren’t any laws broken here. If the chief let them fight the fire, it’s likely that would have broken a law or ordinance. Do you even know what Good Samaritan laws are? There wasn’t any human life in danger. Good Samaritans aren’t compelled to protect property.
So why did the firefighters stay there? IN CASE the field caught on fire? How did they know it would? They should have not responded at all if these people were not on the subscription list. They are supposed to respond to a field fire…did the the field owner pay the $75? Where is that fee coming from if paid at all? The facts are, indeed, the facts, but it sure seems cold hearted.
Agree that it’s not their job to risk their lives for animals. Never should be. But if you can spray water on adjoining land/brush, you can spray it on the mobile home. Firefighters, with all due respect to your brothers, shouldn’t make judgement calls on who to help unless their own safety & security precludes it. If they did, we’d have Fire Fighters and First Responders refusing service to some drunk or accident victim who has injured themslves by their own stupidity or drunkeness.
A similar fire service billing system was used in rural North Carolina decades ago. Several homes burnt and were total losses simply because a small fire service charge was not timely paid. In todays government bureaucracy of motor vehicle registrations, motor vehicle inspections, federal taxes, state taxes, county property taxes, city taxes, fire protection fees, multiple student forms, vaccination records, health care forms, etc…it would be nice if it could be made simpler.
Finally, a smarter system prevailed. The local fire department fee (tax) is added to the county real property and personal proprety tax billings. Just because your property taxes (fire tax)aren’t paid, doesn’t mean you don’t have fire protection. The fire tax is secured against the property as a tax lien.
Additional fire taxes are often collected in property insurance premiums. Theses funds become political grants for politicans to dole out to get re-elected.
I would agree the Good Samaritan laws should prevail and the official in charge should become personally liable for his failure to act. And if some other reason for his failure to act such as a personal gudge can be identified for his failure to act, then punitive damages should be levied against him.
Here is some additional information you need to know. Firefighterclosecalls.com quotes the homeowner Gene Cranick as saying “I thought they’d come out and put it out, even if you hadn’t paid your $75, but I was wrong,”. Sounds like this wasn’t a case of forgetting to pay but taking a chance and losing. Next, on fixfulton.org it indicates that the city commission decided more than 10 years ago that firefighters would not be allowed to respond to a fire at a non-subscriber location. This was a longstanding community policy, not something unexpected. Last, according to an ABCNEWS.com story earlier this year, Darlene Fairchild of New Castle, IN received a bill for almost $28,000 to cover the costs of her fire department’s services. If the fire department were not prevented by the rules from responding to Mr. Cranick’s house, would he be able to pay that kind of bill? If not, who would pay the bill?
From what I read, it wasn’t the responding firefighters who made the call, it was the chief. Again, no human life was in danger, just a mobile home and material possessions. The homeowner rolled the dice and lost. To their credit, they appear to be admitting it.
There is the other side. If South Fulton did not have this program of selling protection to people outside the city then more houses may have burned and nobody would blame South Fulton. This is the 2nd time the Cranick’s needed fire service and had not paid. What is a fire department to do? You can not do it without money. If you do not need to pay then nobody would. It is sad but true.
Next time this happens, call 911 report the fire but speak in spanish! Should not have a problem with them responding and putting out any fire.