My Community has a Volunteer Fire Department also I belong to it. For many years we used to put out cards people put quarters int, then we just asked for donations, Recently we sponsored and passed a County wide fire Tax.We no longer need to beg. Never in the histoty of the Fire Department here has it ever failed to put out a fire because a person didnt donate. Most people choose to pay their own way, others dont. Thats life. I retired after 25 years in a paid Fire Department. The Fire Department isnt about money its about Community. This bunch who stand by with Fire apparatus running and crew watching is crap in my book.
There is a big difference between asking for donations and demanding them. When you demand it isnt a donation its extortion.
From another source that tells a little bit more than the modbee.com.
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/BREAKING01/60216004
Rural firefighters take pass on battling flames at nonpaying residence
Associated Press
Monett Rural firefighters stood by and watched a fire destroy a garage and a vehicle because the property owner, who was injured battling the flames, had not paid membership dues.
Monett Rural Fire Department Chief Ronnie Myers defended the policy, saying the membership-based organization could not survive if people thought the department would respond for free. The department said it will fight a fire without question if a life is believed to be in danger.
Myers said he would make an effort to explain the membership policy to the area's new Hispanic residents after the property's owner, Bibaldo Rueda, said he had never been told of the dues policy since moving there 1 1/2 years ago.
According to Barry County Sheriff's Detective Robert Evenson, the fire broke out Monday on four acres owned by Rueda south of Monett, about 50 miles southwest of Springfield.
Four mobile homes and a number of vehicles were on the property. Rueda managed to get one mobile home out of the way, using a garden hose and buckets, but was burned in the process, Evenson said.
Monett Rural Fire Department responded to the scene but did not fight the fire. Firefighters stood by from the road as the fire burned itself out, watching in case the flames spread to neighboring properties owned by members.
"People need to realize you've got to become a member. If you live outside the city limits, you need to join one of the rural fire departments," Myers said.
Rueda offered to pay, Evenson said, but the Monett department does not have a policy for on-the-spot billing.
Nearby Cassville and Mt. Vernon have gone to tax-supported rural fire districts, following a public vote, wherein all fires are fought.
Rural Monett members have not been asked to choose between memberships and tax support, though they came out strongly against a proposed Aurora Rural Bi-County Fire Protection District, which was voted down in 2001.
I agree.
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.