firefighters watch a house burn because the owner did not pay annual fee.

[Madding]

I highly doubt you would all have the same opinions had this happened to a family member or close friend. $75 fee or no fee, right or wrong, against the rules or not, what took place here was wrong.

To some of us it is not realistic to be apathetic to the situation because there is just no way I would jeapordize myself, my family or my property by forgetting or ignoring such an important fee.

 

[Warborg]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upsho...servative-ideological-debate#mwpphu-container

this is kind of sad. firefighters arrived at the scene but let the house burn because the owner did not pay his annual fee of $75. someone will say its the mans fault because he didnt pay the annual fee. but isnt it the firefighters job to fight the fires? the goverment pays them not the fee's that peoples pay. i mean what if someone was in the house. next thing you know you gotta pay $100 annual fee if you want cops to come over to your house incase of theif or robbery. now the man may be homeless.

what's your opinion of this story?

Without reading other posts yet... it sounds like a protection fee that gangs and mafia would do. Is this what we are reduced too?

 

[Rays of Sunshine]

If they don't pay the bill and lives are at stake, should they not have alternatives in place? I know they did not say he could not afford to pay, but watch the man carefully, why else would someone that has paid the $75 before on more than one occasion, not pay again? Shouldn't they have follow up calls until someone is reached?

This situation is just as crazy as paramedics showing up for a person having a heart attack and not assitsting and trying to save the person because they haven't paid a bill. The laws, firefighters and lawmakers should not stand by and watch a person or family loose their home period!!!!! You should know how much a flipping house cost and maintaining it is not not cheap either. People always want to be able to pass down a House, etc... on to the next generation. This is whole situation is ridiculous!!!!

SemperFish, you line of work is very different than someone not paying $75 for fire coverage. I am sure in some cases, many soldiers and officers have not agreed with some of Chain of Command's orders. History has shown again and again, that people can make mistakes, even the head decision makers.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

I highly doubt you would all have the same opinions had this happened to a family member or close friend. $75 fee or no fee, right or wrong, against the rules or not, what took place here was wrong.

no it isnt. U dont get what u dont pay for. U dont get water, power, heat, or even a freakin home if u dont pay for it. U dont get what u pay for

 

[jcardona1]

And honestly, I'm even surprised this is ALLOWED to happen in the US. Several posts say that the fire department ONLY showed up when the neighbor (who had paid their fee) called and was concered about his property. They refused to even come out when the original propery owner called.

Now, let's say this was a person that lived miles away from another homes. His house is on fire, he calls the FD, and they don't show up because he didn't pay his fee. His kids die in the fire. What then? Same situation. Is it still acceptable? Is then this $75 a fee you just placed on someone's life? Because that's what I'm getting from the info I've read.

 

[SumoNinja]

I highly doubt you would all have the same opinions had this happened to a family member or close friend. $75 fee or no fee, right or wrong, against the rules or not, what took place here was wrong.

i get what you're saying

but i've heard conflicting stories. the sources i read, he said he forgot to pay but others on here says the guy admitted that he purposely didn't pay.

if he purposely didn't pay, it really is his own fault.

 

[Warborg]

This gives me an idea, I going to get a t-shirt that says if you ever want my help in the future, you need to pay me now.

Then when someone gets hurt and if they didn't pay me... I'll walk away without helping them or calling 911.

 

[SemperFish]

the fact that you can equate your profession which places you as a weapon in the same regard as a firefighter which places them as protectors and public servants is laughable.

yes by all means if you are a marine do as you're told, but believe it or not we pay our firefighters to think also. and when they go home to their families in their houses their priciples will be meaningless. you can have your technicalities, I'll keep my morals, after all I was not raised by a family in which 45 of my family memebers fought and died for this country to have a damn 75$ annual fee seperate right and wrong.

if you want to swap war stories I'll direct you to my grandfather and his service in WWII and korea, he raised my father with better morals than this and in trun my father raised me with better morals than this.

keep your principles, I was raised with morals.

First of all I dont equate my chosen profession to anything - nothing else is like the Marine Corps. Apparently you think Marines dont think? That is laughable. I certainly hope that principles are not meaningless to firefighters. They have families, what are they teaching their kids? Im not sure if you understand the terms you are using? Are you really suggesting that I have no morals and do you really think that principles and morals are that different?
prin·ci·ple/ˈprinsəpəl/Noun
1. A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.
2. A rule or belief governing one's personal behavior.

hmmmmmm sounds kinda like morals huh?

Lastly, Im not here to "swap war stories" . I have used some examples that I mistakenly thought you might understand. we can return to the examples once youve brushed up on vocabulary.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

What i dont understand, is peoples give me give me give me attitude. U dont get what u dont earn or pay for. Some how the fire dept needs money. If their taxes dont pay for it(like most places) then they hold carnivals or bingos or such to pay for it. This town opted for a yearly fee.


Personally i would have put the fire out and then billed the hell out of him.

ANd for those saying he forgot, Im pretty sure he didnt forget 3 or 4 times if not more. Its not one bill and oops i forgot. When you forget to pay a bill what do you get? a late notice....

 

[nikond70s]

looks like some of you didnt watch the video or didnt read my previous post. he have been paying the annual fee's but didnt pay for it this year. the firefighter only showed up because the neighbors that paid the fee was afraid the fire might spread to their house so then the firefighter came. so if there was people in the house and trapped they would of all burn to death. so really they didnt care for the house nor if people where in the house.