On Thursday, John Mitchell and I (FirefighterNetcast.com)had the opportunity to speak candidly with Chief Kelly Edmison of the Union City Fire Department in Obion County, Tennessee.
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to listen to the podcast while you read along.
Chief Edmison was able to offer his view of the “Firefighters Watch as House Burns” story that enveloped the Fire Service and headline news just weeks ago.
In listening to Chief Edmison talk last night, he gave credence to many of my thoughts. He also explained what the future holds for all of the Municipal fire departments in Obion County.
He further went on to explain that:
- The homeowners had been told 3 times that they hadn’t paid the fee.
- One week prior, the Chief of South Fulton had been reprimanded for putting out a fire at a non-subscribers house.
- When the Cranicks house burned, the Chief of South Fulton contacted his City Manager to see if they could put it out and he was told NO.
- The fire at the Cranicks house got out of hand 2 hours before the garage caught fire.
- This same issue happened in 2008, Chief Edmison thought that the only difference between that occurrence and this one was that the Fire Chief in South Fulton was attacked after the fire.
- Plus much more! Listen here if you haven’t already!
Chief Edmison was also afforded the opportunity to give his accounts on STATter911.com in the days following the incident. Dave Statter was very quick to jump on my back for my opinions of what I thought about the incident. Thanks for the traffic Dave!
I found humor in the fact that other than Dave calling the Firefighters morally and ethically wrong we actually had very similar viewpoints about the incident. I guess Dave just hadn’t pissed off his quota of firefighters that week.