Come on baby light my fire

[thestoat]

I may have misunderstood the situation here, in which case please forgive me, but this $75 per year sounds like an optional insurance. If that is the case then I can understand why the fire fighters didn't do anything. You pay insurance before the problem happens - not afterwards. That is how insurance works. And likely there is some clause in the fire fighters contract saying they are not allowed to fight fires of those uninsured - it would probably mean they would not be insured if something went wrong. Some assumptions there (based on how things work in the UK, where people can't sneeze without full insurance and a health and safety check), but if it is an insurance then it seems perfectly understandable.

I recently spoke to a chap who does remedial repairs on houses through insurance. To cut a long story short, he went to a flat that had had a toilet problem when the owner was away and basically flooded the flat 1 foot thick in shitty water. The owner had buildings insurance but no contents. Thus the chap I spoke to was not allowed to start work on the property until the owner had removed - at his expense - all items in the house. A shit situation - literally.

[Miles]

In the first place vol. fire departments do not recieve tax dollars except in the form of matching funds for equiptment replacement. By that I mean to buy mainly new trucks. They are responsible for their exhistance through fund raising projects throughout the year.

Secondly any self respecting fire department would never refuse to respond to an emergence of any kind. It is not an insurance issue. Fire personal risk their lives everytime they climb into or on a fire truck. It is the nature of the job. When you join the department that is one of the risks you accept and those I have had the honor of knowing and serving with did not take that responsibility lightly.

Last but certainly not least any fireman who could stand by and watch a neighbors house burn down is beneath contempt.

[Big RR]

In the first place vol. fire departments do not recieve tax dollars except in the form of matching funds for equiptment replacement.

In many towns the equipment is paid for through taxes, and this is thei major expense. They also do fundraising and, in many states, get a fee (usually paid by insurers) for every fire they respond to, which helps defray other expenses.

However, in this case I think the municpal department was not a volunteer one, but one staffed by paid firemen.

[Gob]

Your fire brigades are charities? ? ? ? ? ? ?

WTF!

[Big RR]

In many suburban and rural areas the fire departments are volunteer organizations which are run and staffed by volunteers (who are trained as fire fighters at professional fire academies, usually on part time basis), and funded by a combination of municipal contributions (generally purchases of equipment), and private donations/fundraising. The volunteer fire departments also serve as clubs to which many of the volunteers (usually men) retreat on a regular basis to drink beer and watch sports on TV (when there are no fire calls), and most of the firehouses have a club room for that purpose. So they're really social clubs that provide areas with valuable services.

Many of these areas also have volunteer ambulance squads as well.

[Gob]

Wow! I never knew that.

We have volunteer bush firefighters here, and vulunteer ambulance crews in rural areas, (not to mention the "Flying Doctor Service")

I guess I'm too used to the small scale UK, where all emergency services are funded by, and regulated by, the local authority

[loCAtek]

My dad volunteers to help fight New Mexican wildfires; well, not as a firefighter. He'll volunteer his time and truck to pick up 'injuns' (his word for Native Americans) from the reservation and drive them to the burn sites, where they volunteer to fight the fires. For the rest of the time, he'll drive them in food and water.

[Miles]

The fire department I belonged to, Warsaw NY, only received matching funds for truck replacement. Other than that we were completly self reliant. We raised money by means of various fundraising events. The most profitable being sponsorship of an old fashioned 4th of July week. We would bring in a carnival and schedule events around it. A parade and car show. A food tent, various games of chance and ,of course, a BEER tent. The one year I was in charge of the food tent we realized a $50,000.00 profit for the week.

We also were recognized as having the best response and effectiveness percentage for all volunteer fire departments in New York state. We all worked hard to serve the community because the people who live there appreciate and trust their fire department to be there when needed. After all isn't that the essence of being a volunteer?

[Lord Jim]

Ya know, it's kind of funny....

On one end of the spectrum, we have a local government so obsessed with the idea of absolute individual autonomy, that they've made fire protection optional....

While on the other end, we have local governments so contemptuous of individual rights that they're trying to make it illegal for people to smoke in their own homes....

If I had my druthers, I'd take the knuckleheads on both extremes and make them permanent members of The International Space Station....

[Miles]

LJ,

[Crackpot]

You'd better watch it LJ keep talking like hat nd you'll become a *GASP* Centrist!

[Lord Jim]

Making fire protection optional isn't Conservative...

It's radical Randism taken to an absurd extreme....it's one of those far out radical libertarian wet dream wish list ideas, (like privatizing the interstate highway system) that most rational people would assume would never actually happen....it's just plain nuts....

Why stop there? Why not make police protection optional?

If a cop sees you being mugged on the street, he first subdues the attacker to determine whether or not you paid your police protection fee...if you did, he arrests the mugger...if you didn't, he walks on and permits the mugger to resume his mugging....

And of course emergency room services should also be made optional....

If you didn't pay your fee, you'll just have to bleed to death in the lobby....Your survivors will probably get a bill for the clean up....

They're called "essential services" for a reason, folks....

[Lord Jim]

Double post.

[Gob]

There is an equivalent in the UK (in terms of funding) in the RNLI, a service I was proud to, and still do when possible, support as much as I was able. (Mainly cos the local crewwere my drinking buddies.)

[loCAtek]

Gob, Didn't you have a mate from that who was knighted, kinged, or pawned, or somesuch?

[rubato]

Kakotopian Ideas #12

Lets all buy car insurance only after we get in an accident and save money ! ...

yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

Gob, Didn't you have a mate from that who was knighted, kinged, or pawned, or somesuch?

Phil Shannon MBE.

This is a most apt and fitting recognition of Phil`s long and outstanding service to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution at Sennen Cove.
Joining the lifeboat crew in the late 1960s in the `Susan Ashley`, Philip has taken part in hundreds of services from the Cove in conditions ranging from idyllic to horrendous.

Highlights would probably include the Silver Medal Services to the `Union Crystal` and the `Tungufoss`, with undoubted low point being the loss of friends and colleagues at Penlee.

Phil was in the Crew of the 37ft relief Oakley class lifeboat on that fateful night, trying to get round Land`s End in impossible conditions.

Over 40 years total dedication to the lifeboat service is a rarity indeed, and in today`s world shines out a huge example to our younger generations.