Pay to Spray??? Homeowner looses everything...

[nooshinjohn]

...because he forgot to pay the fire department $75.00!


I am glad I don't live outside the city limits.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39516346...ife/?GT1=43001

[ohskigod]

...because he forgot to pay the fire department $75.00!


I am glad I don't live outside the city limits.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39516346...ife/?GT1=43001

chalk up a reason Jersey is a good place to live. Municipalities have to provide Fire service under law (they can have there own department or contract with another town) this situation flat out sucks.


on the ther side, if there prop taxes do not pay for it, they, as a town, should have all these costs covered by property taxes then the municipality should pay the other cities fire department.

there is no excuse for safety purpoese for this kind of thing to happen, emergency services are a very important part of society. If the guy was in the house, they would let the person die? thats insane.

[tommyboy]

there is no excuse for safety purpoese for this kind of thing to happen, emergency services are a very important part of society. If the guy was in the house, they would let the person die? thats insane.

Thats what I was wondering. If someone was trapped in the house, would they seriously just sit there? They probably asked if he had anyone stuck inside. And probably would have done something if there were lives in jeopardy.

Still, its ridiculous regardless, though burning garbage in your back yard isn't the smartest thing to do.... (especially since its apparently close enough to set your house on fire)

[TNRabbit]

I guess everyone else will pay their $75 now~

Point made.

[bobman1235]

chalk up a reason Jersey is a good place to live. Municipalities have to provide Fire service under law (they can have there own department or contract with another town) this situation flat out sucks.


on the ther side, if there prop taxes do not pay for it, they, as a town, should have all these costs covered by property taxes then the municipality should pay the other cities fire department.

there is no excuse for safety purpoese for this kind of thing to happen, emergency services are a very important part of society. If the guy was in the house, they would let the person die? thats insane.

New Jersey is also very urban. In rural areas, where people live outside of any established township, it's much harder to establish a fire department for such a wide area with so few people. And without a city / town government to work on behalf of the people (it sounds like this home is just on county land) you can see how this kind of situation would arise.

I'm not saying it's RIGHT, it's just not as simple as those of us who live in reasonably well-populated areas are used to.

[Jstas]

New Jersey is also very urban.

Ummm...no it's not. There are large tracts of land in the central/coastal, southern and north western parts of the state that are dominated by farm land and state/federal parks and nature preserves. There are similar areas to the one in question in NJ where such things could happen and likely did at one point necessitating the laws that are intended to prevent it.

[bobman1235]

Well, rephrase to say "where you live in New Jersey is probably much more urban."

[sucks2beme]

Forgot to pay? Or never paid? Most likely the case.
If he's burning garbage in the back yard, he's also too cheap
to pay the fees for "dump" rights.

[jflail2]

Forgot to pay? Or never paid? Most likely the case.
If he's burning garbage in the back yard, he's also too cheap
to pay the fees for "dump" rights.

Either way, this seems a bit excessive/harsh in response. And he lost pets too? That's pretty sad, especially considering it was over $75....

[cstmar01]

that is terrible.

I know it can be hard in very rural areas even in WI of who is supposed to respond etc. I know around the state there are volunteer firefighters for areas like this so that if something did happen on a farm etc there is groups of people that will do what they can to control it (often have the gear everything needed its just they dont' get paid for doing the service). If its bad enough they will still call in a close city etc to help if the fire gets out of hand etc.


But seems odd that they wouldn't do anything just because of a no pymt type deal....

and I would HOPE that they woudl do something if someone was in there, rather than argue about it.

[kawizx9r]

Even if he did forget to pay the fee, that's just f^cked up.

Imagine if your house burned down. I felt horrible after seeing that happen when I was living in Chicago. A 2-story house burned down just 2 buildings down from where I was living; you should've seen the family as they sat there and watched everything burn to the ground.

[ohskigod]

where I live is basically suburban..........but Nj has (as far as I know) the most firefighting apparatus per capita of any state (gotta find that info, but I know I heard it somewhere). this State, for it's faults, takes emergency services VERY seriously.....even in the rural areas.

lots of volunteer fire departments here, and that is usually how the rural areas handle it.

[jflail2]

Exactly Kaw. I had a friend about 10 years ago lose basically everything except the shirt on his back to a house fire. He didn't care so much about his "stuff" as he did personal items, such as a flag his grandfather brought back from the Pacific theater in WW2, all his family photos, family keep sakes, etc.

Very sad situation, and not something I'd wish on anyone, regardless of their financial situation, what they had/hadn't paid, etc.

[Sherardp]

Sux ass this guy lost everything over 75 bucks. Someone should slap the chief.

[SolidSqual]

Hmmmmm . . . maybe this is a good way to encourage people to pay their taxes?

[Rivrrat]

We have fire services here outside of Tucson. Our service fee comes out of our taxes, but we don't have to pay i fwe don't want to. However, the policy of the various deptments here is to respond and bill for actual costs after they're done.

[SolidSqual]

We have fire services here outside of Tucson. Our service fee comes out of our taxes, but we don't have to pay i fwe don't want to. However, the policy of the various deptments here is to respond and bill for actual costs after they're done.

That's the way we operate her in Indy. We pay a general tax and then a bill for emergency services received.

[anonymouse]

Yeah I wouldn't wish this on anybody either.

Folks like this who do not pay their dues are a real burden. I live in a homeowners association where some owners have not paid their dues in a decade, yet they enjoy the services like water treatment of the nearby lake that the association performs. Happy to take but not participate. I guess I'm a fan of Ayn Rand.

[messiah]

Completely inexcusable. F'n douchebags made the trip out there and watched him lose everything, even after he said he'd pay whatever it cost to put the fire out. Good for the kid, I would have kicked that assclown's teeth in.

[vlam]

What? There is no "bail out" when one didn't pay their year fees?

What the fire department did? Not excusable
The ower of the home? Typical of what irresponsible people in our society do. Note he mentioned that this happened 3 years ago when it happend to "his boy" home. Back then, they allowed him to pay the next day.

What I don't understand is if this isn't the first time, why is it a big deal this time? We are close to election?

[Keiko]

Pretty sad just because he didn't pay a measly 75.00 fee. Shame on them.

[sucks2beme]

He didn't pay the fee, didn't have half enough insurance. It wasn't a random
fire, his grandson was burning trash. AND I"M SUPPOSED TO FEEL BAD FOR HIM? Who here really thinks he "forgot" to pay?

There's a subdivision on the outside of my town that wants access to all our
services like water,sewage, fire and police, but doesn't want to be part of the town and pay our taxes. I say the same. SCREW THEM.

You forget to pay the insurance bill and have an accident, you don't see
the headline "Insurance company doesn't pay up on claim when client didn't pay premium".

Yes, I'm in a hard-*ss mood tonight. This clown got what he had coming.

[schutz2106]

Wow..... Ya know if I would have been 1 of the firefighters I think I would have pulled $75 bucks out of my wallet, thrown it on the front seat of the fire truck and proceded to try and save the house. Its such a wonderful world we live in that you get sold out for 75 bucks............

[messiah]

He didn't pay the fee, didn't have half enough insurance. It wasn't a random
fire, his grandson was burning trash. AND I"M SUPPOSED TO FEEL BAD FOR HIM? Who here really thinks he "forgot" to pay?

There's a subdivision on the outside of my town that wants access to all our
services like water,sewage, fire and police, but doesn't want to be part of the town and pay our taxes. I say the same. SCREW THEM.

You forget to pay the insurance bill and have an accident, you don't see
the headline "Insurance company doesn't pay up on claim when client didn't pay premium".

Yes, I'm in a hard-*ss mood tonight. This clown got what he had coming.

I understand being in a mood, but the guy offered them money to put the fire out, and they told him to pound sand. Then they showed up to help the neighbor, but wouldn't help him, even though he offered them money. I'm all for having everyone pay there way, but at what point do we throw common sense out the window? Those firemen should be ashamed of themselves.

[nooshinjohn]

He didn't pay the fee, didn't have half enough insurance. It wasn't a random
fire, his grandson was burning trash. AND I"M SUPPOSED TO FEEL BAD FOR HIM? Who here really thinks he "forgot" to pay?

There's a subdivision on the outside of my town that wants access to all our
services like water,sewage, fire and police, but doesn't want to be part of the town and pay our taxes. I say the same. SCREW THEM.

You forget to pay the insurance bill and have an accident, you don't see
the headline "Insurance company doesn't pay up on claim when client didn't pay premium".

Yes, I'm in a hard-*ss mood tonight. This clown got what he had coming.

I could see your point if we didn't live in a country that drops everything just to go halfway around the world to throw billions at some third world country that was wiped off the map by a tsunami or some other catastrophe. God knows we will never see one dime BACK from that country. In fact, that country probably will end up producing a bunch of terrorists willing to die along with as many Americans as they can take with them, just to say thanks for all the help we gave them.

A fellow citizen needed help and in his hour of need, people stood there with gear that could have saved his home... and watched as his home and animals burned. I am a proud American, but this is as un-american as it gets in my book. All I can do is hang my head in disgust with this one.

If they have a good old fashioned "barn raising" for the guy... count me in!

[tonyb]

Tough call, if I was neighbor I would of helped the guy put it out. The firemen are bound by policy, crappy as it maybe. Then again,the guy has to take some resposibility here. If you don't pay your car insurance,you don't expect them to cover you in an accident,do you? Have to also wonder how his homeowners insurance will look at it,if he has any.

OOPS...read down the story,I guess he has insurance and they will cover some of it. He said he didn't have enough though. Now I have to wonder if the guy was just a miser.

[sucks2beme]

The right thing to do would be to is form a plan and tack on the fees for this
to property taxes in the area. Then they'd be covered. But given the times
we are in, there's going to be a lot more stuff happen that only a little money
would of fixed. Public services are being cut all over. And no one is going
to let them vote in even a $75 dollar yearly fee. The locals will show up in force
to vote it down. It's a trend I like to call "all dollars and no cents(sense)".
I see it in business, govenment, and private households.
When money's tight, the logic of "it's only $75" goes right out the window
on boths sides of the debate. It's was a cruel point the firefighters made,
but if they run out of money, there won't be fire coverage for anybody.
Sooner or later, there's one less firehouse, one less firetruck, and a fire will
not get covered. How many people do you think would pay for fire coverage
ahead of time if they didn't have to? My guess is, there's a lot of locals
around there not paying, or they wouldn't be tracking it so closely.

[nooshinjohn]

The right thing to do would be to is form a plan and tack on the fees for this to property taxes in the area. Then they'd be covered. But given the times we are in, there's going to be a lot more stuff happen that only a little money would of fixed. Public services are being cut all over. And no one is going to let them vote in even a $75 dollar yearly fee. The locals will show up in force to vote it down....

I see your point on this and agree with it to a point. The true way to fix this is to stop sending trillions of dollars to other countries and take care of our own right here at home. Charity begins at home and it's about time we took care of us for a change.

[tonyb]

I see your point on this and agree with it to a point. The true way to fix this is to stop sending trillions of dollars to other countries and take care of our own right here at home. Charity begins at home and it's about time we took care of us for a change.

Ahmen brother. We could do without a study costing a few hundred grand to study the effects of cocaine on monkeys, or drunks in argentina.

[bigaudiofanatic]

New Jersey is also very urban. In rural areas, where people live outside of any established township, it's much harder to establish a fire department for such a wide area with so few people. And without a city / town government to work on behalf of the people (it sounds like this home is just on county land) you can see how this kind of situation would arise.

I'm not saying it's RIGHT, it's just not as simple as those of us who live in reasonably well-populated areas are used to.

Actually I live in the middle of nowhere and we have a fire station about 3 miles from our house. Not every place is like that but in Stow Creek we have one.