|
|
|
#1
10-04-2010, 06:17 PM
|
||||
|
||||
Is your house worth $75.00 ?
http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local...104052668.html
OBION COUNTY, Tenn. - Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won't respond, then watches it burn. That's exactly what happened to a local family tonight. A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground. The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning. Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay. The mayor said if homeowners don't pay, they're out of luck. This fire went on for hours because garden hoses just wouldn't put it out. It wasn't until that fire spread to a neighbor's property, that anyone would respond. Turns out, the neighbor had paid the fee. "I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75, but I was wrong," said Gene Cranick. Because of that, not much is left of Cranick's house. They called 911 several times, and initially the South Fulton Fire Department would not come. The Cranicks told 9-1-1 they would pay firefighters, whatever the cost, to stop the fire before it spread to their house. "When I called I told them that. My grandson had already called there and he thought that when I got here I could get something done, I couldn't," Paulette Cranick. It was only when a neighbor's field caught fire, a neighbor who had paid the county fire service fee, that the department responded. Gene Cranick asked the fire chief to make an exception and save his home, the chief wouldn't. We asked him why. He wouldn't talk to us and called police to have us escorted off the property. Police never came but firefighters quickly left the scene. Meanwhile, the Cranick home continued to burn. We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception. "Anybody that's not in the city of South Fulton, it's a service we offer, either they accept it or they don't," Mayor David Crocker said. Friends and neighbors said it's a cruel and dangerous city policy but the Cranicks don't blame the firefighters themselves. They blame the people in charge. "They're doing their job," Paulette Cranick said of the firefighters. "They're doing what they are told to do. It's not their fault." To give you an idea of just how intense the feelings got in this situation, soon after the fire department returned to the station, the Obion County Sheriff's Department said someone went there and assaulted one of the firefighters. __________________
__________________
Get in, sit down, shut up, hold on...cause Ms Grumpy is driving ! For the audio geek try: www.audiokarma.org 
|
|
#2
10-04-2010, 07:07 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I'm sure that my insurance company would gladly sue the county if this happened here. Sounds like a perfect story for Dateline or 60 minutes to cover & make the entire country aware of this madness.
__________________
Chris 69 4-Door Malibu
|
|
#3
10-04-2010, 08:05 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Why they do this is strange to me. But not to pay the $75.00 and assume that they will come out and save your house. It is like not paying your car insurance and figuring someone will pay for the damages when you get into an accident.
I am sure that more people have paid that $75.00 since this happened.
__________________
Get in, sit down, shut up, hold on...cause Ms Grumpy is driving ! For the audio geek try: www.audiokarma.org
|
|
#5
10-05-2010, 07:34 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
About 9 years ago, I got one of those calls that no one wants to get. It was David and he told me that our house was on fire. I was in my first week of training of a management position with a new company and on top of that the District Manager was there to see me. I walked up to the DM and said my house is on fire I am going home but I will be back.
Apparently one of my teenage daughters decided that she wanted to have a candle in the bedroom and put it right under the curtains in the window. When the fire started she tried to put it out without telling David. By the time he smelled smoke, the bedroom had flames going up the wall. He called the fire dept and got everyone outside, my older son had taken the little ones out and put them in one of the cars, while David put our garden hose thru the bedroom window. The fire department got here extremely quick. Most of the damage was contained to the bedroom, but we had smoke damage thru out the entire house. We ended up spending 3 months in a hotel while the house was repaired. I know that my house would have burned down if the fire department didn't respond. I know that we would have never been able to pay for the repairs or hotel stay had we not had home owners insurance. So if my municipality decided to charge us $75 for fire or police protection. I would pay. Just my thoughts.
__________________
Get in, sit down, shut up, hold on...cause Ms Grumpy is driving ! For the audio geek try: www.audiokarma.org
|
|
#6
10-05-2010, 07:55 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
I'm sure we would cover the fire part but doubtful for police. Lets just say that our home is well protected in many ways. 
__________________
Chris 69 4-Door Malibu
|
|
#7
10-05-2010, 08:23 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
__________________
Get in, sit down, shut up, hold on...cause Ms Grumpy is driving ! For the audio geek try: www.audiokarma.org
|
|
#8
10-05-2010, 10:30 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
It's too bad but what did he expect? He lives in an area with no fire protection. A city, that he does not live in, offered to provide fire protection for $75 and he declined. So he expects them to provide it anyway?
|
|
#9
10-05-2010, 12:03 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#10
10-05-2010, 02:33 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Where I live we don't have Fire protection either, what happens is that one of the other communities Fire Dept will respond and then we are responsible for the bill. The Fire Dept that will come to our house is only 3 miles away so we are pretty protected....If anything happens at least we are protected and the house insurance will pay the bill.
Just to refuse to come out is very imature if you ask me.
__________________
Ric Beckman  1969 Chevelle SS396 1972 Camaro SS350
|
 |
|
|
Linear Mode
