Completely repulsive.

but just exactly what the Tea partyers would result in...

Outrageous. Heinous. Inhuman. ~r

Who passed this law? This is precisely the kind of government Tea Partiers want--libertarian. You get what you pay for. It's like the privitized social security thing. They have this attitude of "Oh well, people can buy their own insurance and fire protection and retirement and health care. They don't need any government help in ensuring that they do, indeed, prioritize these basic things." Well, duh. People are people. We all think we aren't going to get sick, fall down, lose our homes to fire. That's why we need our collective sense, in the form of government, to keep our priorities in order. I'm not sure how I feel about the fire fighters themselves.

What insanity.

Past shameful!!! Rated.

First, just speculation, because I don't really know what would have happened, but I really have to believe (otherwise, I would go insane) that, if there had been people trapped in the home, firefighters would have made an effort to rescue them. I have to believe that.

Second, fire and police protection should not have to be purchased. That road leads to complete and utter chaos.

I read about this elsewhere. I was amazed how many comments said they deserved it for not paying their bill. Their pets died in that fire.

I am so glad that we don't have those kind of taxes here.

the land of the free? nothing is free in the home of the brave.

money creeps through america like dry rot through deadwood.

First, Odette, it's really good to see you on here again.

Second, as I understand the history, this is really a reversion to rival colonial fire brigades who competed for "business". They'd sell fire protection to building owners and put up a special medallion. If they got to a fire and it was someone else's -- or if it was "uninsured" -- they'd watch it burn.

Organizing proper, municipally run, fire departments was supposed to change all that.

Otherwise, what the good Emma Peal said.

sick.

How many of those commenting would work for free? Even volunteer fire departments usually have at least a few paid staffers.

Having said the above, most of the rest of the country has figured out a way to get essential services to all of their residents and not just a select group.

My sister lives in a ski town dominated by the wealthy who have vacation homes there, but don't want to pay property taxes. So they got themselves onto the city council and ended the taxes and cut the budget. Then, someone's house caught fire and the owners were elsewhere (in one of their other homes, no doubt) and the fire engine couldn't make it to the house because there was no road to get there. No taxes, no road. It burned to the ground. And the house wasn't insured either.

There will be something good out of this, though I am sorry for their loss. It is that there is now a national discussion on the stupidity of cutting out this kind of municipal funding from the budget and leaving it to private land owners. I have a lot of libertarian values, but stupidity is not one of them. If you agree to live in a city, or suburb, you agree to that which comes with it, including public and personal safety. This also shows us how well "insurance" works.

My husband is a volunteer firefighter. He is in a state of disbelief that this could happen in this day and age. I think it is a preview of government by the tea party-every person for themselves! R

I heard on the radio (NPR Marketplace, I think) that the owner had paid the fee in past years but had forgotten to do it this year. I've done that, with other sorts of things. What a terrible penalty to pay.

How many of those commenting would work for free?

Oh, for God's sake. How many of those commenting haven't occasionally offered some of their time, expertise, or money to someone in need?

Slightly over looked point here, the home in question was in the county, not within city limits - living in a rural area I have some minor experience with discussions about this kind of thing, expenses balanced against morality. And no, I'm not saying that what happened is in any way right. I feel very badly for the family.

I also feel badly for the firefighters who had to watch this happen, I can't imagine what it did to them to be forbidden to fight this fire.. because they are caught in the politics of the thing :(.

Rated for the inhumanity of finance.

Hey Odette, always glad to get a post from you!

Randy Rhoades has been talking about this on Air America.
Seems the county did have the money to provide fire protection from the taxes ($50 K) or they could have assessed a $3 electricty tax but went with the extra $75.

The only party in small towns is the fire department.

Thanks everyone for your comments. You know, I've been reading the arguments for letting it burn to the ground being a-okay, and I can't seem to get past the horrible inhumanity of it. Also, as volunteer fire departments are an important part of our national history (do you know that the first ones often paid for their own equipment, as part of an effort to fight ALL fires--people understood community once upon a time), it sickens me that we've moved in this very bad direction.

And rumor has it, from people in the county, the fire chief has the discretion to override and let the person pay the fee after the fire has been fought. This time (and not others), he decided not to fight the fire. THAT REASON ALONE should be enough to show how these sorts of conscripted fire departments are not the way to go. But, a lot of people are selfish. Honestly, that's all there is to it. Also, they can't count. Imposing a tax on all would have made it cheaper for everyone. But, it isn't just about money, exactly. I'm sad to say it's also about a class culture. Some people feel that they are better than others, and that poorer people deserve to suffer for the crime of being poor.

This story makes me physically ill. Shameful.

rwnut:

Actually, I'm well acquainted with a good group of volunteer firefighters. Until the last few years, as the city grew enough to begin establishing a paid job (meaning through the tax payers) not one of them got paid. All but one still don't get paid. All of them volunteer their time, their sleep, their money, the risk of their lives for the satisfaction of helping their fellow man. They save lives. Putting a price on saving a life in this way is repulsive. Come on, now. I get that the Repubs like to hang onto their money. We all get that. Yay money, right? But really, I'm so tired of hearing that it's someone's fault that he or she is poor or disenfranchised or homeless or can't afford health insurance or ... whatever other unfortunate circumstance occurs, as they do for all of us eventually, if we live long enough.

I want to leave this life knowing I tried to be a decent human being, even if I failed a bunch. Part of that, for me, is helping those around me who need help. Is it really a good step forward in this country to make this country a place where only the rich get the help they need, while the poor are left to be sicker, poorer, and apparently, not even get the most basic of services, including fire coverage? Where the community is neglected because it's 'every person for him or herself!'?

And all because some of us don't want two dudes or two dudettes to get married or because some of us don't like a black man in the White House? That just seems really, profoundly stupid. Equal opportunity, when I was growing up, was what the United States wanted to achieve. What we hoped to have. But now, well ... equality is, for some, a thing to be put in a box and locked away. And community responsibility has been completely forgotten. And you know, what? That shit doesn't fool me. I get what's happening there. By abdicating ANY community responsibility for the circumstances of others, some of us have found a sneaky way to remain completely without any responsibility to anyone. Very wily, I suppose.

The word 'responsibility' should be a verb, damn it, constantly moving and working, not some static way of blaming people who haven't had the "luck" (and I use that word 'luck' loosely, because difference, in my opinion, kicks ass and is a great thing) to be born white or male or straight or whatever is accepted by people who are so afraid of difference, they'd rather see everyone who is different dead or made so quiet as to be dead.

And don't even get me started on the observations that those who are concerned about taxes cannot, apparently, count, since paying taxes for all these services is almost ALWAYS cheaper than the privatized situation. If we share a bit, we all get what we need. If we hoard, a few of us get by, but the rest of us lose. And good grief, if one person misuses and misunderstands the term 'socialism' one more time I'm going to go find a Marx reader somewhere and stick it up his or her butt.

What I don't understand is why this stuff isn't really obvious. We help each other, and we win. We don't, and we lose. I do not get the disconnect anymore. I have to believe it's driven by fear and by selfishness. I've tried and tried, but that's what it looks like to me. A bunch of frightened children who don't want to let go of their toys and who are afraid of the bogeyman.

Okay. I know it's not going to do any good to write any of this. The "truth" has been shellacked and put on shelf for some people. They don't want my dust on it.

Not a surprise. The mindset is screw everyone else. We allow this kind of thing when we vote for the fools that make the rules based on on compassion or intelligence, but on "values" and "morals". I don't know how people who would allow a persons home to be destroyed over seventy five dollars can show their face in public.

Evidence of the new pay-as-you-go paradise that awaits...

Insanity . . . just insanity . . .

And of course, a system like this isn't ripe for corruption...

Oh wait...they tried this system of firefighting in ancient Rome...oh, and it led to arson and extortion.

Put a waste basket between your legs and then read this:

"And it goes nowhere if you go onto “compassion, compassion, compassion, compassion” or well, “they should’ve put it out, what is the fire department for?”… If you don’t pay the 75 dollars then that hurts the fire department. They can’t use those resources, and you’d be sponging off your neighbor’s resources… It’s important for America to have this debate. This is the kind of stuff that’s going to have to happen, we are going to have to have these kinds of things."
- Glenn Beck
October 5, 2010

Okay, now it's all right to vomit.

Glenn Beck wouldn't understand compassion. He's mentally ill, has no conscience, and is a complete monster. Of course the idea of compassion is foreign to him. The problem isn't that he exists, but that he's been given any kind of power by anyone. The potential he has for evil is clearly high.

Welcome to Imperial Rome (or Feudal Japan): Human life has a price tag.

Seriously though, how the hell is is even LEGAL?

-R-

Oh and by the way, WHAT IF someone had been trapped in that house? Would they have stood by and let a PERSON DIE IN A FIRE for the sake of 75 friggin' bucks?

I'm almost afraid to hear the answer!

Beyond repulsive, it is monstrous, reptilian. Non humans are making decisions, it is completely inhuman.

Sadly, at my age, I'm not in the least bit surprised by conservatism at it's finest. Perhaps they would let someone die, depends on their net "worth."

Psychopaths. We call them monsters. I listened to the Fire chief today and he showed no empathy and no remorse that I could determine.

The international firefighters something-something has condemned the bastards. At least something was done...from other places.

My question is this: who did the homeowner vote for? People better realize that what they vote for is what they get, and a lot is going to get worse.

What is the world coming to ?