Fire department lets house burn down over 75 dollars

[doubleohfive]

Agreed. My dog is just as much a member of the family as my parents or siblings. If he wasn't already out of the house he'd be one of the first.

The other thing to remember here ... when you go through a trauma like this, in the moment, you're generally not thinking straight. It takes a lot to keep a level head and make rational, logical decisions. That's part of why a firefighter contingent is called -- so they can effectively put out the fire and minimize the loss of life.

Playing devil's advocate here, but who is to say that's not what happened with the guy in question? Maybe he was just caught up in the horror of the moment when he realized the firefighters wouldn't lift a finger to help him?

 

[Alpha Romeo]

To those of you saying the 75 dollar fee is necessary to fund the station, you're wrong.

This happened in a small county, a county too small for its own fire department. So they "rent" a larger county's fire coverage, for the 75 dollar fee.

So fee or no fee the fire department gets tax money from the state, enough to function fully. The 75 dollars is just to get more money. Perhaps for new equipment, or perhaps to beef up pensions. Who knows.

Point is, that argument falls flat.

Also, I do know someone who lost all their possessions in a fire. That was my uncle, along with my cousins, and they live in Tennessee as well. An electrical wire was incorrectly installed and lit the insulation. It was later determined that the electrician they hired let his little brother, who had no experience OR LICENSE, install that wire. The insurance company, however, still felt it was my uncle's fault because he should have known a wire behind a wall was sparking, since it was installed a few months before the fire. He got basically nothing out of it and that part of my family has been broken and turbulent ever since.

So, having seen all that first hand, there's really nothing you can say that would convince me this guy or anyone deserves his home destroyed.

Then there's the obvious logic about it. Burning down a house does terrible things. There's chemicals that burn, the smoke causes property and lung damage to everything and everyone around it, and there's danger of pipes rupturing which would be bad news to every house nearby. Did they ever consider THAT?

Your uncle got hosed by the insurance company. He should have fought them.

 

[Alpha Romeo]

It stops at human decency I'd imagine. Personally, I don't think I could watch someone's house burn down knowing I could help. But that's just me, I guess. I'm a loving guy like that.

That, and any firefighter worth his salt wouldn't turn down the chance to play in a fire.

 

[Amaris]

Agreed. My dog is just as much a member of the family as my parents or siblings. If he wasn't already out of the house he'd be one of the first.

The other thing to remember here ... when you go through a trauma like this, in the moment, you're generally not thinking straight. It takes a lot to keep a level head and make rational, logical decisions. That's part of why a firefighter contingent is called -- so they can effectively put out the fire and minimize the loss of life.

Playing devil's advocate here, but who is to say that's not what happened with the guy in question? Maybe he was just caught up in the horror of the moment when he realized the firefighters wouldn't lift a finger to help him?

I'm not certain. There's a whole bunch of video and transcript. What we do know is that he had called them in the past and several times in the past they had came out to his property to put out fires that had started. In all that time, he had repeatedly failed to pay the yearly fee, and never paid the $500 service charge each time. He knew all of this whenever he picked up the phone to call them again. He gambled and lost.

Now, as I've said elsewhere, I wish they would have put the fire out, but they didn't. Their decision not to put out this fire should not have been a surprise, just as not paying one's electric bill month after month shouldn't be cause for surprise when the power company shuts off his lights and his food spoils and says no when you offer to give them the first month's total due if they'll turn it back on. I don't like being on the side where the firefighters have a point in not putting out the fire, because it's disappointing that they simply would not help, but the man brought the great majority upon himself by refusing to pay the many chances he got to pay, knowing his house could catch fire and he'd be in a bind. As I said, he gambled and lost, and worst of all, those poor animals suffered because of his negligence.

 

[Dream]

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?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39516346/ns/us_news-life/

Here the importat part from this article.

The fire started when the Cranicks' grandson was burning trash near the family home. As it grew out of control, the Cranicks called 911, but the fire department from the nearby city of South Fulton would not respond.

It didn't actually start inside the house. So yeah, he could have done something. The least the guy could have done was open the door so the animals could get out themselves. He completely forget them or he thought being on the phone was more important. I don't know what would be worse.

Also his idiot grandson was responsible for all this. I hope the kid gets a beating.

 

[Amaris]

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?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39516346/ns/us_news-life/

Here the importat part from this article.

The fire started when the Cranicks' grandson was burning trash near the family home. As it grew out of control, the Cranicks called 911, but the fire department from the nearby city of South Fulton would not respond.

It didn't actually start inside the house. So yeah, he could have done something. The least the guy could have done was open the door so the animals could get out themselves. He completely forget them or he thought being on the phone was more important. I don't know what would be worse.

Also his idiot grandson was responsible for all this. I hope the kid gets a beating.

Well, to be fair, I think everyone has been more than punished. In fact, as a reference to earlier, I do feel sympathy for the kid, because I doubt he thought this would happen when he was burning garbage.

 

[Dream]

The guy's grandson started the fire. The guy's son is also an idiot it seems.

From that article:

After the blaze, South Fulton police arrested one of Cranick's sons, Timothy Allen Cranick, on an aggravated assault charge, according to WPSD-TV, an NBC station in Paducah, Ky.

Police told WPSD that the younger Cranick attacked Fire Chief David Wilds at the firehouse because he was upset his father's house was allowed to burn.

WPSD-TV reported that Wilds was treated and released.

He had every right to be pissed, but going after the Fire Chief was just dumb. Did he think he wouldn't get arrested?

 

[Jetfire]

^
I am guessing he wasn't thinking at all. Just emotional and acting out.

 

[Amaris]

The guy's grandson started the fire. The guy's son is also an idiot it seems.

From that article:

After the blaze, South Fulton police arrested one of Cranick's sons, Timothy Allen Cranick, on an aggravated assault charge, according to WPSD-TV, an NBC station in Paducah, Ky.

Police told WPSD that the younger Cranick attacked Fire Chief David Wilds at the firehouse because he was upset his father's house was allowed to burn.

WPSD-TV reported that Wilds was treated and released.

He had every right to be pissed, but going after the Fire Chief was just dumb. Did he think he wouldn't get arrested?

I doubt he was even thinking when he did it. I would be rather traumatized myself in such an event.

 

[Capn Flukie]

I hope the Fire Chief paid his police protection money.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

I wonder though, would they just stand there and watch it burn if there had been people inside?

No. As has been reported, the only way they respond to calls from non-paying customers is if there's a life at risk.

This story has gotten so much publicity now, I wouldn't be surprised if people in this situation claimed that there was someone in the burning house even if there wasn't just to get the FD to show up.

(I'm in that long line of people who believe that this is a barbaric system - but given that it does exist, they should have put the fire out and then billed him, taking him to court if necessary given his history of not paying for previous calls. But I'm still somewhat cynical when it comes to human nature.)

 

[JiNX-01]

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.

Oh, I didn't catch that part.

I can understand that the fire company wouldn't want to encourage homeowners to skip paying the fee -- which I presume pays for the training and equipment ... but to stand there and do nothing, especially leaving family pets to be burned alive, is damned heartless.

 

[Chaos Descending]

The pets were no doubt long dead.

The fire department didn't show up for the neighbor's place until the original place was pretty much gone.

 

[Amaris]

The pets were no doubt long dead.

The fire department didn't show up for the neighbor's place until the original place was pretty much gone.

Plus, as has been stated, the fire started outside in a barrel, which left the owner plenty of time to get people and animals out of the house. The neighbor's house was right next door, and he could have ran over to make the call to the fire department from there.

 

[doubleohfive]

Regardless of how the fire started ... or when the pets died ... I think it's pretty rigoddamndiculous that the house was just permitted to sit there and burn to the ground. For me, that's the senseless, appalling part of all of this.

 

[Chaos Descending]

It's amazing how few people actually Blane the jackass that refused to pay the fire subscription.

 

[sidious618]

It's amazing how few people actually Blane the jackass that refused to pay the fire subscription.

That like saying if someone got shot for being an asshole we should all go on about the fact that the guy was a dick instead of the fact that someone fucking shot him. In this case this guy was a dick but the firefighters let his house burn down. I'm going to focus on the bigger assholes in this situation.

 

[Sheep]

It's amazing how few people actually Blane the jackass that refused to pay the fire subscription.

That like saying if someone got shot for being an asshole we should all go on about the fact that the guy was a dick instead of the fact that someone fucking shot him. In this case this guy was a dick but the firefighters let his house burn down. I'm going to focus on the bigger assholes in this situation.

The biggest asshole is the guy mooching off of the system and expecting to continue to get away with it every time he calls the fire department. It's called personal responsibility, which this guy was clearly lacking.

 

[Scout101]

It was also a fire that wasn't an accident, but was started by his grandkid, and just got out of control. And also the 3rd time that burning trash had gotten out of control, so should have been a little more prepared.

Fire department didn't sit and watch, they just didn't come. They showed up later to save the neighbor's house when he called...

 

[Chaos Descending]

It's amazing how few people actually Blane the jackass that refused to pay the fire subscription.

That like saying if someone got shot for being an asshole we should all go on about the fact that the guy was a dick instead of the fact that someone fucking shot him. In this case this guy was a dick but the firefighters let his house burn down. I'm going to focus on the bigger assholes in this situation.

That's... not even remotely accurate. What a terrible and inaccurate analogy!