As goes the old adage: There are 3 sides to every story, the homeowner’s side, the fire department’s side, and the truth.
There may be three (or more) sides to the ‘story’ but there’s only one set of facts.
The facts are very simple: those living outside the city limits whose taxes do not include fire protection have to pay $75/year for that fire protection. If they choose not to pay, as the homeowner(s) here did, they don’t get fire protection. The homeowner(s) took a big gamble and lost. They knew full well what was required and assumed it wouldn’t happen to them. It did. Unfortunate, yes, but it was a conscious decision the homeowner(s) made.
Try calling GEICO or State Farm for auto insurance AFTER you’ve totaled your car.