This isn't so much directed at you but at a country that has lost its mind.
I don't know what anyone else is demanding but I thought this was the United States of America. The America I grew up in provided for certain basic functions of government and police and fire protection were always seen as fundamental. I am stunned that in the 21st century we apparently have local governments that are incapable of organizing basic services, and fire protection is a basic service that is for the good of the entire community.
This is why we can't have nice things anymore, this is why the rest of the world (even as it collapses... or so we are told) is laughing at us. We Americans get the worst return for our taxes in the civilized world. It isn't so much about this one guy who may or may not be a crank, it's about the society the rest of us want to live in and I don't want my country, state, county or city to check my neighbors' records before basic services are provided.
Whose crazy idea was it that fire protection, FIRE PROTECTION! should be an optional subscription service and that local governments should or could be organized in that manner? Europeans pay insane amounts of taxes and get ridiculous amounts of government service, a lot of it complete junk. We also pay stupidly high taxes and in return we still get nickel and dimed over the most basic government services.
This is the USA for crying out loud, we should be able to outdo the rest of the world in our sleep in terms of quality and efficiency. But no, we've "advanced" to the point where the motto of our nation in public and private relations is "Screw You". Where did Reagan's Shining City on Hill go? How can we be a beacon to the world when what the rest of the world is going to get out of this story is that America can't figure out how to provide fundamental government services without checking to see if people are paid up first?
I don’t disagree with your post I just find it sad how low the human species has fallen or is it just our basic conscience and decency has fallen so far.
The owner was wrong but the guys who sat there and watched were just lowest of the low. No logical defense can even be attempted which is obvious by these threads.
The community recently voted down a property tax increase to pay for fire service. Should they be forced to pass a tax increase?
There are rural, unincorporated areas that simply do not have a population and government structure that supports a fire department. In such situations, sometimes a volunteer firefighting force is put together by residents. In some cases, the rural residents in outlying areas near a town might appeal to that town for assistance. Since these residents don't live in that town or pay city taxes, the town might enter into an agreement with the county to extend services to those residents if the county pays for the services or if the individual residents pay for the services. This is really not that unusual.