How many pay for fire protection

Old Vet · #**101** 10/11/10, 08:51 PM

There are two ways to look at this. The moral and ethics way. To be moral the fire department should fight every fire no matter where or whose jurisdiction. The ethics way the Fire department did nothing wrong and was their only to fight fires at a neighbors house. You can argue it both ways. It is like the liberal way versus the conservative way. The liberal way is to fight fires no matter where with out any jurisdiction. But the conservative way is If he didn't want to join the rest that payed then he should have to face the consequent the burning of his house. Lets see If a ambulance is on the way to an accident and happens up on another wreck should he stop at that one or go to the original one?There may be somebody that says stop and treat that one first and transport them to the hospital then go to the original one. I life in a county that has one ambulance in it. The county judge will not have another one. The only way to get another ambulance is to call for one 2 county away. It will be their in about 1 hour if they are not busy. This can be similar to the fire department that was called to a neighbor house when the other house was already on fire. Should the fire department stop at any fire and put it out or go to the original fire? I have had this before and the answer is to go to the original fire. You never know if the second fire is purposely set afire by lawful means or not or if somebody is already responding to that fire. That is where radio are useful.

FyredUp · #**102** 10/11/10, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Vet

There are two ways to look at this. The moral and ethics way. To be moral the fire department should fight every fire no matter where or whose jurisdiction. The ethics way the Fire department did nothing wrong and was their only to fight fires at a neighbors house. You can argue it both ways. It is like the liberal way versus the conservative way. The liberal way is to fight fires no matter where with out any jurisdiction. But the conservative way is If he didn't want to join the rest that payed then he should have to face the consequent the burning of his house. Lets see If a ambulance is on the way to an accident and happens up on another wreck should he stop at that one or go to the original one?There may be somebody that says stop and treat that one first and transport them to the hospital then go to the original one. I life in a county that has one ambulance in it. The county judge will not have another one. The only way to get another ambulance is to call for one 2 county away. It will be their in about 1 hour if they are not busy. This can be similar to the fire department that was called to a neighbor house when the other house was already on fire. Should the fire department stop at any fire and put it out or go to the original fire? I have had this before and the answer is to go to the original fire. You never know if the second fire is purposely set afire by lawful means or not or if somebody is already responding to that fire. That is where radio are useful.

Morals and ethics have nothing to do with this situation. At least not as you portray them. The City of South Fulton has NO OBLIGATION legal or moral to offer fire protection outside the city limits. They decided to offer fire protection to those rural residents through a subscription fee. The residents had a choice to buy the fire protection or not. Tell me was it moral and ethical of Mr Cranick to not protect his family and home by not subscribing and then expecting the fire department to fight his fire anyways?

The other element is the decision whether to fight the fire or not was taken from their hands by a city policy that forbid them to fight the fire. Would it have been moral and ethical of those firefighters to disregard city policy at the peril of losing their jobs, or being injured or killed, while performing duties specifically forbidden by city policy?

I feel no sympathy for the Cranicks, they skated, gambled and lost, while fully informed and aware of the City of South Fulton's fire protection policy.

garyinmississip · #**103** 10/21/10, 03:53 PM

Old Vet. Once an ambulance has been dispatched to a call, it has a legal obligation to go to that call. If they come upon another accident, they will call it in and let the dispatcher find another ambulance to send (or send police or fire as available/appropriate.) The personnel in the ambulance cannot decide to stop an a different call then what they were sent to.

salmonslayer · #**104** 10/21/10, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Mr Cranick KNOWINGLY, over a course of YEARS, DID NOT PAY the subscription fee

Not that it matters but he had paid the previous 3 years according to the report.

The only thing I agree with you about is that it really wasnt the fire departments fault. I place the blame on Mr Crannick first and foremost and the county for not providing a redress for fire protection. In my county, which is sparsley populated and poor, we get more from annual dues than we would if they levied more property taxes..we looked at that option.

But you know Fyred up, I am glad my department doesnt have your attitude. Its not meant as an insult, I just cant fathom your thinking and its not the prevailing attitude with anyone in any of the fire departments (mine included) in this area. Somehow (rightfully or wrongly) I suspect the scorn and derision this department is facing is really not worth a statement over $75.00. I am alsao still trying to figure out what fire fighter would trust a typed list of who paid and who didnt pay and consulted that before they hit the fire with their attack lines. I wouldnt even want to serve in a department that put its fire fighters in that position.

pointer33 · #**105** 10/21/10, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garyinmississip

Old Vet. Once an ambulance has been dispatched to a call, it has a legal obligation to go to that call. If they come upon another accident, they will call it in and let the dispatcher find another ambulance to send (or send police or fire as available/appropriate.) The personnel in the ambulance cannot decide to stop an a different call then what they were sent to.

I guess I should bone up on what I can and cannot do legally....you know often that is a fine line vs actual factual. I do work in a metro area, not rural so that may be a different story. I am a firefighter who also shares duties of paramedic on the ambulance....point being we DO have some discretion to stop or change calls at times in varying circumstances when responding to a medical call. Obviously we are not our own boss in the sense we are very accountable to a established system....seems at the end of the day it is usually alright when all is taken care of professionally and expediently. Again, I bet a lot of things are different out in rural areas.

Fat Charlie · #**106** 10/21/10, 08:28 PM

In a built up area there generally aren't any gaps in fire coverage and there's a whole mesh of mutual aid agreements.

In many rural areas, including Obion County, the official plan is to hope there's no fire. The backup plan is to hope that someone nearby has a different primary plan and feels like bailing you out. It looks to me that paying taxes to a nanny state is the best thing for fire protection. At least then we're all paying for something that everything feels is an entitlement.

Old Vet · #**107** 10/21/10, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

In a built up area there generally aren't any gaps in fire coverage and there's a whole mesh of mutual aid agreements.

In many rural areas, including Obion County, the official plan is to hope there's no fire. The backup plan is to hope that someone nearby has a different primary plan and feels like bailing you out. It looks to me that paying taxes to a nanny state is the best thing for fire protection. At least then we're all paying for something that everything feels is an entitlement.

The closer to town you live the more of an entitlement it becomes. Once everybody gets accustomed to having it the more of an entitlement it becomes. I have been on the inside and know that the only entitlement is to rely on volunteers to do thing for you. It cost money for some body to be a volunteer and time. You volunteer to drive either to the fire or to the fire station You lose the hours of work during the day or sleep at night. You also volunteer to buy some equipment and such so that you can do the job safely. You do this all this and some say a lot of bad things about you. It is in every district no matter if you are payed or not. But When I did this I would not imagined that another way could have happened.

lonelyfarmgirl · #**108** 10/22/10, 08:10 AM

I pay 25$ a year on my place I own in Arkansas. If we dont and it burns, then the fee is big, I dont know how much though.