Fee Not Paid; Firefighters Let Home Burn

Star Tribune ^ | October 6, 2005 | Robert Franklin

[Incorrigible]

The roof...
The roof...
The roof is on fire!

[wideawake]

Screw him. He refused to pay and now he's going to complain and force everyone in his community to pay a property tax because he was too irresponsible and lazy to pay an extremely reasonable $25.

I have no sympathy for someone who hates freedom.

[HamiltonJay]

Well, if you gotta pay the fee and choose not to... got no one to blame but yourself.... Sadly, this person didn't pay... but somehow it'll wind up being someone elses fault.

[Little Ray]

Gee, losing your home for refusing to pay a $25 annual fee. How bloody stupid of him.
I supposed they could have put the fire out, then billed him.

[LongElegantLegs]

Guess I'll be donating to the Police Department's little charity drive thingy next time they give me a call...

[kinsman redeemer]

This should not happen.

[stevio]

I guess the government should take care of it, huh?

[zook]

"I supposed they could have put the fire out, then billed him."

Wouldn't that have made a heck of a lot more sense? I'll bet they could have gotten 50 from him!

[steel_resolve]

Shame on these firefighters for not putting the fire out over $25 dollars. That is crap. Imagine if it was your house and you forgot to pay the $25 - would you want them to put it out? That's their damn job.

[DainBramage]

A rekindle is not the same as letting a structure burn. They put it out once, left the scene, and it burned again.

Goober could have done the overhaul and checked for hot spots himself with a waterhose/greenline.

[.cnI redruM]

I'll betcha he wishes he'd cut that $25 check.

[anonymous_user]

He should have paid them the $25 when they arrived to put out the fire.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Crassus lives. ;)

[Iron Matron]

"I lost everything [else]," he said. "Stand and watch it burn was all I could do. ... They should have put the thing out, but they didn't."

PAY THE FEE--DONT EXPECT EVERYTHING FOR FREE.

[AmericanDave]

Foolish, I bet the percentage of dues payers goes WAY up now....LOL

[Shalom Israel]

Imagine if it was your house and you forgot to pay the $25 - would you want them to put it out? That's their damn job.

Their job is to put out fires for free? OK, so you believe in slavery. Can you elaborate? I mean, how does a person enter this slavery, and can they get out? Can fire departments sell firefighters to other departments? Is it OK to brand or tattoo firefighters, in case they run away?

[fatnotlazy]

Where I live, we have an all volunteer fire company, which has saved my little economically depressed community a lot of money, but the downside is that this volunteer company depends exclusively on charitable support. Personally, I'm so happy not to have to pay via tax dollars that anytime someone comes around with the boot, or there is some other fundraiser, you will find me ready with the donation. The fire company mails the residents an appeal solicitation once a year...it lists various suggested amounts starting at $20, but if you can only afford a dollar, no one will complain. It's a helluva lot better than paying wages and benefits to a bunch of guys to sit around all day waiting for a fire or some other emergency to happen.

[XJarhead]

I supposed they could have put the fire out, then billed him.

Great. So the fire department collects maybe $200 all year because people only pay their $25 after their house catches fire.

That oughta keep them in business.

[doc30]

Would you do your job without getting paid? Personally, I think it is stupid that property taxes don't cover the fire department, but if you don't pay, you take your chances. This guy did not want government services and he got what he paid for.