Posted on 02/16/2006 3:52:53 PM PST by LouAvul
Edited on 02/16/2006 6:43:01 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
MONETT, Mo. (AP) - Rural firefighters stood by and watched a fire destroy a garage and a vehicle because the property owner had not paid membership dues.
Bibaldo Rueda - who was injured battling the flames Monday - offered to pay the dues as the fire blazed away, but the Monett Rural Fire Department does not have a policy for on-the-spot billing, Sheriff's Detective Robert Evenson said.
(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...
This guy is a new Hispanic Resident, Now he is a garage and a vehicle out. I dont imagine this makes Chief Myers very popular with Hispanics in the area. If I were the Chief I wouldnt sleep too soundly and make sure my Fire Insurance was paid up, he might also think of having the fire Station Sprinkled and alarmed.
Exactly, we don't have a "system" that we would have to pay $1000 or better. You either pay your $20 a year or you don't, you takes your chances.
You think we in Missouri must be forced to pay for some idiot who won't pay his $20 a year to protect his house? Sounds like a democrat talking. Hmmm, I can have the government take care of it for $1000 a year or voluntarily pay $20 a year for volunteers and then bitch when my house burns down because I refused to pay the $20.
I'm still glad I live here. Very few here are begging for government involvement and higher taxes.
Sounds almost like extortion.
interesting....
Billy Blazers need to be taught the golden rule!
I get it. That doesn't make it right.
Would you buy car insurance if you could wait until after you had a wreck to buy it?
Where do you think the money for the fire trucks and hoses comes from?
Do you think that the term "volunteer" means that the volunteer pays for the privilege of putting out other peoples' fires by buying his/her own equipment?
Do you know how much a fire truck costs?
We had a county wide fire tax which went to support all the departments. Revenue and was controlled and distributed by (iirc) the board of fire and rescue comissioners, and distribution was based on call load first, equipment requirements next.
If we wanted it and it wasn't in the budget, we raised the funds through raffles, dinners, and donations (NOT extortion).
I could not imagine standing there and watching someone's house burn.
Yes, it would be much better if they didn't even have a volunteer fire department that you could purchase protection from if you wished.
But socialists don't understand that concept. They want to have the right to buy auto insurance after they have the wreck.
If this is the system you like you are welcome to it, I sure dont want neighbors who would stand around and watch my house burn, you are welcome to them.
By the way if you pay $20 dollars now why do you think you would have to pay $1.000 in taxes, The cost should go down when everyone pays.
You're on the wrong website, freeloader.
I'm afraid I don't agree with you. It's a choice: you get the service or you don't.
My insurance company demands that I pay my premiums in order to have insurance coverage. They aren't extorting me--I want coverage, so I choose to pay. It's the same here: if you want fire coverage, you pay. If you don't want it, you don't pay. How is it extortion when a person has a choice?
A tax is MUCH more like extortion--you are forced to pay at the threat of jail; you don't pay, you go to jail. There is no choice, there is no option. I'm afraid I can't agree with you here at all.
We just paid $450,000 for our last piece. But if we left it sitting in the road while someones house burned , what good would it be.
You mean like auto insurance companies?
Only pay your premiums after you have an accident? Yep, that would work.
I understand where you come from but you live in the city. Here, you must either be responsible and if you choose to have everyone else pay their $20 a year and you refuse, then fine, no one's going to help you when you're in need. My people are very helpful and responsible, that is why they are willing to work for no pay to help people. When that firebell rings, they leave their jobs, unpaid to help those in need. They each lose more in a few hours than the $20 they ask in a YEAR for the needed supplies to help them.
Again I say, I'd rather pay the $20 for the rural fire department than whatever taxes you are paying. I have to laugh at what you are paying in taxes while complaining about our system. You just keep paying those taxes....
Sounds like every VFD I'm familiar with. One of our local VFD's just took a $1.5 million dollar building and equipment loss when the firehouse burned down, insurance is only going to cover half. Fire companies throughout Virginia, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware have all been ponying up support.........as well as the local community. I can't go into a store around here where there is not a can on the counter for donations.
At the Moose Lodge, renting out our bingo hall is one of our major sources of revenue.......this VFD had a scheduled fundraising event set for April, in order to help them out, the Lodge members voted to waive our normal rental and clean-up fees.
Bingo! I'm actually extraordinarily surprised by the reaction of many of the folks on this thread. This is capitalism: you buy the service or you don't. There are no free rides.
You should form your own volunteer fire department. It only costs about $500,000 to set one up.
If you don't have $500,000, maybe you could ask people to donate.
If you can't get $500,000 in donations, you might have to resort to promising people that you will put out their fires if they pay you $100 per year, and that if they don't pay you, you won't put out their fires.
Which do you want? A free, non-existent fire department, or a real fire department that you have to pay for?
Socialists always believe everything should be free.
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