I'd have done the same. And yelled at the firefighters to help. I'd be using words that are fit only for TNZ.
Fire department lets house burn down over 75 dollars
- Thread starter Rett Mikhal
- Start date
I'd have done the same. And yelled at the firefighters to help. I'd be using words that are fit only for TNZ.
It was a slow-developing fire.
The guy had plenty of time to save his pets from the fire himself. Instead he had to be a dick about it and argue with the firefighters while his pets were still inside.
This is making me sick to my stomach the more I think about it. What if there had been a person inside the house? Once again, I'm ashamed of my country...
Since we're talking purely in hypotheticals and there wasn't a person inside the house (I'm 100% sure that's the first thing firefighters check for), what if there was another fire/incident/accident/whatever in the city itself and the firefighters were too busy responding to this guy? And lives were lost in that other situation because the FD was tending to some moron who set his own house on fire and was too cheap to pay a minimal annual fee for firefighting services? Yeah, sucks to be that other person, doesn't it?
I can understand people's sympathy for the guy since his county inexplicably thought they were immune to things like accidents and natural disasters that, I don't know...might lead to fire, but I'd rather save my sympathy for people who deserve it, not potential Darwin Award winners.
^ Everyone deserves sympathy.
A
Amaris
Guest
Not all of the time. I'm not saying that's the case here, but no, not everyone deserves sympathy. Compassion? Yes. Sympathy. No.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
A house burning down in front of you while a the fire truck an firefighters are already dowsing the flames next door is an entirely different situation from you not paying your insurance and then getting in a wreck.
A heart attack - which can be caused by any number of symptoms, issues, or pre-existing conditions - that leads to such medical aggravation and requirement for extenuating treatment -- is an entirely different situation than watching your home burn to the ground while there are qualified people probably 20 feet away who are able but unwilling to do anything about it.
I get that this guy had already had the firefighters out there a few times. And I get that he'd been a dick to them. But I'll ask you the same question you asked me: where does it stop? Is it permissible to deny humanitarian aid to a citizen because he's a jerk?
There was a thread, years ago in this very forum about a couple. They were senior citizens, and they had neglected to pay their gas bill during the winter. They made the news because the gas company (or electric, I can't specifically recall which) cut off the heat to their home. This couple went to bed one night and never woke up. They both died in their sleep due to extreme cold. I think in the final analysis, the bill was for some marginal amount of money, like $21.00 or so. Is that any more acceptable to you than this scenario?
Then again, perhaps it is the fact that this wasn't a car that got wrecked or a bicycle that was stolen. This was a house. A home that is now a smoky pile of ash and debris. Maybe it's because of the last few years and how people all over have been losing their homes to the economic crisis we've been in.
Maybe it's because I'm just not that petty a person. Or maybe it's because there's a certain line of decency I like to try carry myself by ... but I don't care who you are ... friend, foe, family member, neighbor, jackboot thug, asshat... whoever ... I'd never wish your house be destroyed, and I certainly wouldn't just stand by and watch it incinerate away and do nothing.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
The house next door had caught fire as well. The firefighters came to put out that fire, but refused to offer any aid to the man in the first house.
It wasn't a life or death situation. If it were they would have responded.
Errrrr it is a tax paid civil service. This particular incident took place outside the department's area of coverage.
I doubt it.
A
Amaris
Guest
By the time they had arrived, the owner's trailer had already been burning for some time. They were only there to ensure the neighbor's house didn't catch on fire. The neighbor had paid their yearly fee.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Two points:
1) Everyone deserves compassion.
2) By what measure do we judge who deserves sympathy and who doesn't?
Forgive me John ... but there have been plenty of occasions where you yourself have posted here in this very forum fishing for sympathy. You're not alone -- and I'm certainly not innocent of it either -- I just find this a curious stand to take. Who are we, who among any of us, really, is in a position to dictate who or what deserves our sympathy to anyone else?
By if they gotz teh monies of course.
A
Amaris
Guest
Which is what I said.
By their actions and intent. If a man shoots and kills a child in cold blood, does he deserve sympathy when he is imprisoned for life? You can have compassion for him in that you hope he changes and redeems himself, but sympathy would not really be appropriate in such a situation. Yes, it's a bit of a severe example, but I needed to make a point where sympathy would be doubtful.
I can have compassion for a family that loses their home to a fire. But I can't really see how he deserves my sympathy when he did nothing whatsoever to protect himself and everything to bone himself.
I feel very sorry for his pets.
I feel very sorry for his pets.
A
Amaris
Guest
That's the part that really bothers me. His poor pets had to die in an agonizing way because he preferred to fight with the fire department over the phone instead of saving the animals and getting everyone out of the house.
Yep. If my house were on fire, my wife and two dogs would be outside before I was.
Do we know for certain that he could have saved his pets before getting into it with the fire department? If so, your statement holds. If not, I don't think that's a valid comment. What source states that he did have time to get his pets out?
If it were me, though, I'd get my pets out even before calling 911. Even if that meant my house burned to the ground where I DO have guaranteed fire service. Losing my stuff would suck, but I would be absolutely and completely devastated if I lost my cat that way and knew she suffered such a horrible death.
In one house I lived in, we had a basement, and we got a tornado warning. Did I go down into the basement immediately? No, I got the cat carrier and got her into it and took her down with me.
The fire started in a barrel outside. It's tough to imagine a scenario in which he could not save his pets apart from gross negligence on his part.
J
Jetfire
Guest
Either way this is a tragedy and no one deserves it. They should have put the fire out just letting it burn is despicable.