According to the NBC video I linked to before the exact same thing happened back in 2008 and the city council, or whatever the city leadership is, decided to continue their policy unchanged. The previous precedent must not have been that devastating to anyone or it would likely have been changed in the last 2 years.

The more it happens, the more aware people become of it, the more pressure put on government for change. Perhaps last time they 'got away with it' but it does not reflect well on the department, does not inspire confidence in the local services and it WILL have a backlash that is far more significant then someone else not paying $75. I imagine their local government will come under fire and popularity in their polls will fall, for a start.

So back to my original point....

'The precedent this has already set is far more devastating..'

I'm sure some serial arsonist (most likely angry at the policy) will go running around unincorporated communities and burn all the are down while firefighters watch. That's sure to get a riot going when firemen watch an entire community burn down before them for a mere 75 dollars.

It's not unreasonable when saving a persons life is in your job description. If you were a nurse would you let a person just die because they hadn't paid there medical bills or perhaps a doctor because they missed just one payment? Like the Deputies I rode a long with they didn't just let this person die because his family was telling them to get out of there house, they tried everything in there power to save him.

:blink: There were no people in the house.

The rest of your post is meaningless. Do you really want the courts to tell a firefighter, or police officer how to react in a crisis? I am rather comfortable with the people who are trained for that job to decided what is reasonable, not a judge on a bench.

This.
Emergency services is supposed to be a position of honor. There's no honor in this. I don't know how they sleep at night. Next time there will be lives at stake.

The people of that dysfunctional place ought to bring themselves into the correct century. Why aren't they pressuring their own local and state representatives to get some basic services there for themselves? Do they plan to rely on other county's' generosity forever? Levy some taxes, get some sanitation and FD services of their own.

....I'm simply pointing out that it's not the right thing to do, what if there was a baby in the house? you missed my anology completely, or simply swept it aside. Perhaps you should take a ride a long with your local police department and realize how hard it is for them, those firefighters should have helped. Your an immoral person if you think otherwise. END OF DISCUSSION.

Excuse me, you are not entitled to decide when a discussion is over, and saying a person is inherently immoral because he disagrees with you is childish.

He's got a point though, this discussion is not really getting anywhere and is just getting heated. Which is understandable on a topic of morals, politics and law.

I sense a lock.

Haha, way to lose any credibility in your argument. "I'm right, you're wrong, no other way to look at it" arguments really only work for fanatics. Calling someone immoral (moral ARE subjective) is a gross generalization of someone, not to mention an unwarranted insult, much akin to the european/asian views of each other during earlier points in history. People have different views on different things, and you can't call someone wrong simply because they don't agree with you.

Personally, I think he should have paid for the services. Insurance is pre-emptive, not retro-active. He was fully responsible for the consequences of his actions when he refused to pay for a service we ALL pay for, with tax-sponsored public services. As tragic as it sounds, this is his own fault.

No. School is.

School = Knowledge = Power = Corruption = Evil.

I know this is a very controversial topic, but what if there were people still inside the house? Just put out the damn fire and [censored] at them later.

knowledge = power = energy = mass = matter

Sorry, couldn't resist throwing out that Discworld reference. :hehe:

That's [censored] disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

Now your attempting to instill your morals upon my response and completely over judging what I was saying, and yes. I can tell somebody they are wrong because they have a different view other than my self . Perhaps calling him immoral was out of bounds, but I don't like my posts being called meaningless or for that matter trolled. This is a heated topic and everybody is on edge,
The point of this whole discussion is simply this, weather or not the fire fighters should have helped him.
As you clearly stated your opinion on and I clearly stated mine.

Oh, I wouldn't say it's that bad, it would probably fit rather well into a standup routine.

in my area of you dont cut your lawn (at least the curbside patch) after awhile they will cut it for you, and then charge you several hundred dollars. the firefighters should have put the blaze out if for no other reason than the animals inside and then handed him a bill for thousands of dollars. its a win win for everyone, house fire gets put out and animals saved....hopefully....and the guy has to pay his bill and then some. i question the guy forgetting to make the payment cause hes also quoted saying "I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75," and he said hes paid it every other year. sounds like he was just trying to save $75. it may sound harsh but i agree with the firefighter that said if they put everyones house fire out anyways then noone would pay. first one guy doesnt pay then another family and so on and eventually no one pays. i mean seriously, when the collection plate at church comes around, dont most people grab one of the $5 or $10 dollar bills as they drop their quarters in. thats just how people are.

this is also not related to politics in anyway. people trying to link it to one side or the other are shills cause fee based services exist in municipalities all across the country in all sorts of areas. all this is is a particular way of doing something. its cheaper than paying it with property taxes but it also means that EVERYONE has to pay or it wont work cause they wont have the money.

The City near us has that as well if you don't cut your lawn your charged with a $500 ordinance.

Huh?

No, I think that's just you. Why you would volunteer that information, I don't know...

But we are humans, we are special. We can think, and we can change. I don't want to live in a world where I'm "okay" with people being back-stabbers. We can say "no" and we shouldn't just give in and settle for less.

You can't expect people to be perfect all the time. But we can hold up and aspire to higher standards, and hold people accountable to those standards.

For one, they should have put the fire out.
For two, if he doesn't have insurance, send him a bill, don't flat refuse to put out the fire.



That just creeps me out.

People keep claiming this, but I have yet to see any proof that it is true.

Uh, French revolution? Getting rid of monarchies?

Okay, that's on a big scale.

On a smaller scale, think about bad habits that you quit. Having more compassion and understanding and empathy. maybe you never really realized how hard it is for people with [x] until someone you care about gets [x], and then maybe you change your behavior and are nicer to people with [x]. Behavior change.

:unsure: anyone else........come on i cant be the only that used to do the old collection plate switcheroo. its tax free and its for a good cause.