I misunderstood, I thought you meant you spent $450,000 on your house city boy..... :^)
New ladder trucks can run as high as $750,000 dollars.
I have no doubt they can, but you are talking an old retired red truck in my area (no fancy lime green ones!). We have 4 firetrucks, always have fund raisers when the $20 a year is due and everyone there carries a cell at their own expense and leaves their jobs (unpaid) when the call is made.
I have no involvement other than to pay the $20 and have never been to the fundraisers. All I can say is, I trust them and know they are doing everything they can on the $40,000 budget a year they have. As I posted before, everyone gets a letter stating you either pay the $20 or your house will burn down providing there is no danger to life. I must admit, I have yet to see them do that in my town but I would never, ever blame them if they did.
And again, I must say if you've never lived in the country, you probably shouldn't. Your $450,000 trucks don't happen here. There are many poor people who would not be able to pay the taxes required. We are happy to pay our $20 and if we don't, we know what could happen. You may think our life sucks but I think it's 100 times better than yours.
Never lived in the Country>? Thats what they called me when I joined the DC Fire. Country. Damn do you ever read a post?
I guess the old saying you get what you pay for exists in Mo. Thats great, they can have it. If thats Country its not the country I come from Thank God. In my part of the country we help people.