'No pay, no spray' firefighters say they're not demons

[struggle4progress]

Fire chief seeks solution to rural fire protection funding after home burns
1 hour 39 minutes ago

A rural Tennessee fire chief says Obion County firefighters are being unduly demonized for letting a man's home burn because he hadn't paid a $75 municipal fee.

The fee, however, is not the best way to protect rural homes, said Bob Reavis, chief of the Hornbeak Volunteer Fire Department. The situation may have been avoided if the county had a tax to cover rural fire protection ...

"The fault is the failure of Cranick family not to pay that subscription," Reavis said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, surrounded by other county fire officials and mayors. "Subscriptions are not necessarily the way to go," he said of the fee.

"The same thing could have happened anywhere" among three Obion County municipalities that rely on subscription fees to cover rural areas outside their cities' borders. Hornbeak and four others do not require subscriptions. The eight cities' provide protection as the county does not operate its own fire department, Reavis said, but 85 percent of fire responses are in rural areas ...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39535911/ns/us_news-life/

Maybe the mayors and fire chiefs can whip up political support for a county-wide fire service tax, instead of the county continuing to mooch off the towns

[some guy]

1. Badly written

they're not "county firefighters"

[Tempest]

2. Maybe not demons, but piss poor excuses for human beings

Only a complete heartless son-of-a-bitch would watch someone's house burn down without doing anything.

[JVS]

3. "Subscriptions are not necessarily the way to go," he said of the fee.

:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

5. Obion county commissioners voted yesterday to extend the subscription system

so he's taking a step into the political quagmire

DU thread:
... Obion County Expands Subscription-Only Fire Service To More Towns (Think Progress)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9258480

[JVS]

7. Color me not surprised. I'm sure that the county commissioners prefer not having to tax.

[EFerrari]

19. These people are playing chicken with each other

and with the lives of the residents in those venues. It's gross.

[GodlessBiker]

4. Have they paid their fee to not have their reputations burned to the ground? Don't think so.

[JuniperLea]

6. Here's a prime example of when to STFU...

They would have been far better off not saying a damn thing.

[EFerrari]

8. What a bunch of b#ll. n/t

[struggle4progress]

13. It's a political fight in Obion county. The only fire services are operated

by municipalities. The vast majority (75% or 85%) of fire calls are from the unincorporated areas. The county won't tax to fund fire service but will only authorize subscription-based coverage from the towns. So the towns either provide free fire service to county residents, paid for by town (but not county) tax revenues, or they enforce subscription-based services and take political heat for that. The Republican county commissioners have fixed themselves a nice cozy nest: on the one hand, they're not raising taxes; on the other hand, whatever problems there are with fire service, the county commissioners point fingers of blame at the towns. Naturally, the town mayors and fire departments are less than thrilled with this arrangement, because they're getting royally screwed over both coming and going. I point out up-thread that the county commissioners voted yesterday to enlarge the subscription-fee system: it's nice for them, because they get to pretend to be responsible while shoveling all the shit onto somebody else. The press conference here, of mayors and fire-chiefs, seems intended to promote county taxation for uniform fire service: I hope they get that, because the current arrangement sucks

[EFerrari]

14. You know, I've been thinking that this conflict has dragged out so long

that someone isn't being honest. I understand what you're saying about the county. They're shoving it off and trying to look good. Got it.

But the city manager of South Fulton should have been in court with this county long ago. Something. Someone, bet me, is dirty here.

[struggle4progress]

16. I don't know what options the towns have under Tennessee law

to push the county. They could, I suppose, just say We're not providing fire service outside of town until a better arrangement exists. But it's small town rural South, not terribly prosperous: people's families have probably been there for generations, and everybody in the towns has friends and relatives in the unincorporated areas -- so they really don't want to say FU! to everybody outside the towns

[EFerrari]

18. There's something under the blanket here.

Cities and counties are in court with each other all the time and usually when a problem drags on this long, it's because someone or some ones on both sides like the situation exactly as it is.

And when you think about it, if the two communities are small enough to overlap in that way, that should add to the impetus to resolve the problem, not detract. So, what's the deal? :shrug:

[struggle4progress]

21. The authority and legal powers of political subdivisions varies from state to state

I'm rather sure, for example, that the situation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is rather different from the situation in the State of North Carolina

It is, of course, almost always a safe bet to smell a rat in politics -- but that's not helpful unless one can actually nose it out accurately

And I expect a careful analysis of Obion county would reveal at least four or five or six overlapping communities, not merely two

[EFerrari]

22. I was merely referring to the two you pointed out

LOL

That's fine. Have at it.

[JVS]

9. The article's title is misleading. The person defending them is from another department.

[Pithlet]

11. Yep. Another thread asked if anyone knew of any firefighters who supported them.

Well. There's one right there. But I bet no one will listen or care.

[EFerrari]

15. Statement from the International Association of Fire Fighters.

International Association of Fire Fighters General President Harold Schaitberger issued a statement Tuesday regarding the fire.

“The decision by the South Fulton Fire Department to allow a family’s home to burn to the ground was incredibly irresponsible. This tragic loss of property was completely avoidable. Because of South Fulton’s pay-to-play policy, fire fighters were ordered to stand and watch a family lose its home. Everyone deserves fire protection because providing public safety is among a municipality’s highest priorities."

“Instead, South Fulton wants to charge citizens outside the city for fire protection. We condemn South Fulton’s ill-advised, unsafe policy. Professional, career fire fighters shouldn’t be forced to check a list before running out the door to see which homeowners have paid up. They get in their trucks and go.”

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story/Firefighters-Let-Home-Burn-Owner-Didnt-Pay-Fire/w9Bg1HxTrkmRg2pxSyw9Ag.cspx?rss=59

[struggle4progress]

17. It might be more realistic to say "South Fulton can't afford to provide

free fire service for 17 fires outside its funded service area for every 3 fires inside its funded service area"

And Harold Schaitberger ought to get his facts right before shooting off his mouth: it's probably not that "South Fulton wants to charge citizens outside the city for fire protection" but rather that Obion county likes freeloading off South Fulton's taxbase, and that situation is economically unsustainable

[Pithlet]

12. Yep. Another thread asked if anyone knew of any firefighters who supported them.

Well. There's one right there. But I bet no one will listen or care.

[Canuckistanian]

10. I always wondered what happened to Reavis and Butthead

Now I know.

[HuckleB]

20. 69...

[Rex]

23. No not demons, they don't exist, just really stupid people.

Next.