Home Owner Billed by Fire Department , for Fighting Fire

With State and Local Gov. running low or over budget , could this be a future Trend?

There have been stories on ATS , where Firefighters and Police wont respond to

certain area's (was in Detroit I believe) due to cost cutting. I saw this story on the

The Young Turks youtube and back tracked to the News Story here www.kbtx.com... . I'm hoping this is an isolated

incidence , and not a fore runner of things to occur.

The family in the news story , had a fire , called the fire department, and after 4 hours

the fire was extinquished. The story by TYT is actually another incident, not related to the news story.

Lead to the story by TYT in in the YT.

Being a law enforcement officer and working with the fire/ems departments a lot, I definitely do not agree with this, BUT can understand the theory behind it...and here is why.

Police, Fire, EMS, and some other public safety divisions are tax based. Citizens of that city, county, or state, pay taxes..and those taxes fund everything about the service (wages, equipment, benefits, etc..)...so what happens when our country decides to allow MILLIONS of illegals into it's boarders who DO NOT pay into the system, or people on all this "assisted" living, welfare, BS who are given given given and do not have to pay anything in return YET demand use of that said system??????? Its not a very difficult problem to figure out. If you have a leak in your boat and 1 gallon of water a minute is being taken on, and all you have is an 8oz cup to use and try to scoop it out...YOUR GOING TO SINK!

Again, I don't think its right, but we have let things get so far out of hand in the way of hand outs and open boarders that it should be no surprise.

ALSO TO ADD: Lets not forget the budgets are usually handled by greedy, dumba@@'s who think cutting public safety is the best route, yet allow commissioners and other "department heads" to have salaries that are ridiculous....they need to learn where cuts SHOULD be made. Fire, Police, and EMS should be the last places...not because I work in them, but its common sense. When is the last time a department head or county commissioner making $100,000 a year came running to give CPR, put out a fire, or respond to a burglar in your home??????????



[edit on 2/6/2010 by rcwj1975]

I thought the whole point of being taxed at gun point was to pay for these crock "services."

Well, the schools are miserable and have making our kids dumber with each passing year. The cops are purely reactionary and the SCOTUS ruled they have no obligation to protect any of us from anything. And now the fire department bills you for no services rendered.

So what exactly am I paying for?

I read there's also a sweeping movement of roads being replaced with gravel rather than asphalt. Sooooooo whos pocket is my money going into? Why is it okay for that person to throw me in jail and take my house or even kill me if I refuse to pay up?

Yay for taxes!!

Here's a related story.

Fire Departments Charge for Service, Asking Accident Victims to Pay Up

It came in the mail less than a month after Darline Fairchild watched her family's home go up in flames -- a bill for the nearly $28,000 it cost the fire department to extinguish the blaze.

"I felt my body turn cold and I just broke out into a sweat," Fairchild told ABCNews.com. "It was awful. I said, 'It's got to be a mistake.'"

But it wasn't a mistake. The Fairchilds, of New Castle, Ind., were just one of a growing number of fire and accident victims across the country who are being billed for fire department services once funded solely through taxpayer money.

Already banned in several states, the practice of charging to respond to house fires and car accidents -- dubbed a "crash tax" or an "accident tax" -- has horrified victims and earned the ire of insurance lobbyists who say their member companies are being targeted to make up for budget shortfalls.

"Part of the sales tactic when municipalities consider this is, 'Hey, don't worry, it's going to go to insurance,'" Jon Zarich, director of government affairs for the Insurance Institute of Indiana, told ABCNews.com. "But it's the homeowner that's responsible once coverage runs out."

Looks like the elected lawmakers are trying to make up for their budget shortfalls by thinking they're 'punishing' insurance companies with these taxes.

[edit on 2/6/10 by Ferris.Bueller.II]

This very topic was discussed in my city several years back. It wasn't implemented, but I doubt if we've heard the last of it.

They discussed either charging for the amount of work, or simply a flat fee, one size fits all. I think they were proposing something like
$350.00.

The idea just kinda fizzled out. Not sure what happened. Hm. At least I think this is what happened. I might be in for a shock if I needed them and received a 28,000 bill. Ouch!

reply to post by ladyinwaiting


this is sick. Only humans could come up with something at useless as money and only we could become so obsessed with imaginary devices to the point where things like this would happen. The fire department needs to be paid and I understand that but a $28000 bill after their house has been destroyed does not help them. Perhaps its time communities start investing on local militia community police and fire services and screw the moneygrubbers once and for all.

Cheers

Originally posted by thebulldog
reply to post by ladyinwaiting

 

this is sick. Only humans could come up with something at useless as money and only we could become so obsessed with imaginary devices to the point where things like this would happen. The fire department needs to be paid and I understand that but a $28000 bill after their house has been destroyed does not help them. Perhaps its time communities start investing on local militia community police and fire services and screw the moneygrubbers once and for all.

Cheers

I don't mean to be entirely too crude but...

"Oh, by the way sir, this is going to cost you 28,000 dollars."

"Let the mother burn. Enjoy your evening."

*SNIP*

I wonder what the charge goes up to if a firefighter dies while trying to put out a blaze?

If I lived in the area, I would start a private competing fire-department and charge less than the standard fire department. Maybe make my number 922 or something like that.



Mod Edit: Inappropriate comments removed.

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