Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
Yeah…it is like kicking a dead deer. Another house burns in Obion County, Tennessee and firefighters don’t put it out.
Only this time, Dave Statter only reports the news and fails to add in his two cents vilifying the South Fulton Fire Department.
A woman’s house burned in South Fulton while firefighters watched from a distance. The firefighters did not put out the fire because the woman had not paid the $75 fire tax. South Fulton has a well disciplined and well known rule NOT to suppress fires on non paying residents of Obion County.
The firefighters were dispatched, but apparently didn’t realize the homeowner hadn’t paid until they arrived.
Last year, when a similar story went viral, Dave Statter said that the firefighters should have put out the fire.
This time Dave has apparently changed his tune and not offered us a reporters view of what he thinks the South Fulton FD should do. I take this as Dave having learned his lesson after being schooled by me and so many others.
Nothing is broke here folks. South Fulton offers fire coverage in part of Obion County. Other departments cover the rest of the County. South Fulton does it for a yearly fee/tax of $75. If you pay it you get coverage. If you don’t pay it you don’t get coverage. It is that plain and simple.
The solution is simple. Obion County residents should either pay the fire tax or create their own fire department.
Hell, even the woman who’s house had burned stated that she never thought it would happen to her.
Unfortunately, the fact that the woman didn’t pay will in fact burn the firefighters again this time.
I think they should stick to their policy.
While I don’t wish this on anyone, the people who don’t pay the tax know what the outcome will be if their house catches fire. That is their choice.
What do you think?
I can’t wait for the spin Dave puts on this…
Links:
- Previous coverage of the last South Fulton Fiasco and related articles
- The local story is here
- Dave Statters weak coverage of the incident is here
