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 ...
"I'm bettin Rueda is a liar."
That's what my money is on too. There is way too much PR and too many events and too much talk involving the VFD in all rural communities for him to have missed it.
Our little town quadruples in population the Saturdays of the VFD fund raisers.
And when we pay for the brownie at the dessert table, it's a twenty dollar bill that goes into the till, with change refused.
Speaking of "officious little pricks...
Many years ago, in Southern California, a friend lost their barn full of hay, and part of their field, because the district line was the middle of the street. The house was on one side; the barn on the other. 911 sent the department the house phone ID showed as the address.
When the firemen arrived, they refused to not only fight it, but also refused to call radio the other department.
They "generously" offered to 'stand by' in case the fire jumped the road into their territory, and made our friend go back, almost a 1/4 mile of driveway, to the house and call it in again, and "this time, ask the operator for the other department by name."
At 100x the annual rate, it would be a bargain (compared with not having any fire service). Set the multiple too much lower and nobody will pay it until they have a fire.
Fighting the fire first and then worrying about billing might be nice, but it poses problems. Not only is there the risk that the bill won't get paid, but there are also liability risks especially since effective fire fighting often requires deliberate property damage (of course, the damage from chopping a hole in a roof will typically be much less than the damage from having fire gasses flash over, but that doesn't mean someone wouldn't sue for the hole in his roof).
In many ways, I would suggest that payment for fire protection services should be processed through the insurance company; this would not only ensure that the necessary bills were paid, but if there were any payment/service options (e.g. for one price, they'll try to prevent fires from spreading structure to structure, but won't do much to save a building that's already burning; for a higher price they'd take a more active role trying to salvage burning buildings). If such options existed, the insurance company would have an interest in balancing the cost of a higher level of service with the probability of reduced claims.
There has got to be more to the story. I seriously doubt that the fire dept. takes the time to go through the billing records before responding to each fire. Unless of course the community was small enough that it was a well known fact that this guy wasn't paying, in which case i would think somebody would have told him about the program.
I would bet this individual had zero insurance from what I've gleaned from the article.
He would still be SOL.
Thats funny I heard a report this morning that he paid the first year, then failed to renew after. I remember stories like this several time growing up in MO.
Consider this, please. I have lived in, and been a volunteer fireman in areas where volunteer departments were supported by fire tax levies. The equipment is the best, the training is superb, and the firefighters and EMS are on par with paid departments anywhere. Everyone benefits from this system, and everyone pays for it.
I do have a question, though. How do vehicle accidents get handled under this private pay system? Is there something I should be aware of if I am driving down there?
I, for one, would have hung up my turnout gear for good if ordered to stand there and watch someone's house burn.
There is no way I would have been able to look anyone straight in the eye and say I was a firefighter.
No plans to do so anytime soon. At least I can RTFA a talent you seem to be lacking.
At minimum, when dwellings are close enough together that fire might spread from one to another, it would seem that there should be a municipal fire department to, at minimum, prevent such spread.
As for protection beyond that, there might be benefits to a contract-based service (including allowing people to balance privacy with fire-fighting effectiveness).
Sure. Bankrupt the local volunteer fire department and then no one would have protection. Sounds like a good socialist solution to me. Go after the firefighters and take their homes as well. That'll shut down all the other volunteer departments in the state.
Rural folks don't deserve the right to band together to help each other anyway. Let all their homes and barns burn down and make them move to the city where they can be more easily controlled.
We have EMS, I'm sure that's tax funded. We don't have the lime green fire trucks that also handle emergencies and traffic accidents. Our firefighters are just volunteer fire fighters, nothing more. One tanker truck that carries water and 3 others that hook up to fire hydrants (all old fashioned red ones).
I mentioned in a previous post that I've not seen or heard of our firefighters refusing to help but that I would never, ever blame them if they did. I know not everyone pays but again, never heard of them not responding. Monett is about 30 miles away.
And it's not private pay, it's volunteer.
The same should happen to them and their families. Toast 'em all.
Yes, it's real. What I don't understand, is these guys are volunteer firemen. They don't get paid anyway. Why should they care?
That was not the Christian thing to do.
Did he walk back again with his shotgun?
I don't know how or where you got 'liberals letting guilty criminals go free' from former or current firefighters expressing contempt for anyone who calls themselves a firefighter and just stands there and lets the place burn.
Quit changing the subject.
Now we have armchair firemen on FR. Cool
The law may give you more protection up there, but I recall a case out of Tennessee where a department responded outside thier area, and was rewarded with a lawsuit from the owner of the building who felt that there was too much fire damage.
No, the voters are adamantly opposed to a property tax based system for fire protection. THEY VOTED IT DOWN in 2001.
You are free to knock yourself out helping this guy fight the fire. I doubt the other members would physically restrain you from assisting. They may stop you from taking the VOLUNTEER fire equipment in to assist.
I'm in no way dissing this guy because he is Hispanic. It sounds like many other Hispanics that move into an area, do not attempt to integrate into the community, but then whine when the community doesn't rush to help them in time of need. I can't pass judgment on him. Maybe he was a fine upstanding member of the community.
It was "property" that was destroyed, no one lost their life.
If I'm a dues paying member of this association, I wouldn't have a problem with a non member rate for people that didn't want to pay, but it's damned near impossible to have ANY funds to start or to maintain a volunteer force with no money.
That is what you would have if people didn't buy their fire tags. No fire service at all.
"LET ME GO ON RECORD SAYING, I don't feel sorry for this free-loading jerk.
"
You aren't very Christian then. Losing a home to fire is a much greater evil than not knowing you had a bill in an area you moved into. Even if he knew about the bill and chose not to risk it, I still feel very sorry for him. The punishment in no way fits the crime. I fully think the fire department should put things like that out and then bill him the full cost of their service. It would be substantially higher than annual dues and would still teach him a lesson. Sitting by while a man's house burned is one of the biggest jerk things I can possibly imagine.
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