The Fire Critic responds and misses the point
I am sure most of you have been following the latest incident of a Tennessee fire department letting a home burn because the homeowner didn’t pay the annual subscription fee. In this case in South Fulton an unpaid $75 bill resulted in the fire department watching a house burn to the ground. There has been a lot of reaction to this story, including the following: News coverage across the country (just heard the story again on CBS Radio); A live shot with the homeowner on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown on MSNBC with references to life under the Tea Party (see below); Glenn Beck supports the FD position; The son of the homeowner decking the fire chief (see story above); A harsh statement from IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger; The Fire Critic Rhett Fleitz taking the side of the fire department saying the rules are the rules (please check my critique of The Fire Critic further down).
As a volunteer firefighter in Maryland in the 70s I recall being quite outraged reading the stories, usually from the South, of firefighters watching homes burn because someone wasn’t on the department’s subscription or membership list. I don’t think my outrage is any less more than 35-years-later.
The chiefs who run these subscription based entities, including Union City Fire Chief Kelly Edmison whose department is in Obion County, Tennessee with South Fulton, make the case that they are between a rock and a hard place. Here is what Chief Edmison said to WPSD-TV:
“If somebody is trapped in the house we’re going to go because life safety is number one but we can’t give the service away,” Edmison said. “It’s not South Fulton’s problem. It’s not Union City’s problem. It’s the county’s problem. There is no county fire department.”
“If we just waited to charge when we went out there, you’d be working on a per-call basis,” he said. “With no more calls than there are, the money wouldn’t be there in a sufficient source to buy the equipment you need.”
He and other fire chiefs in Obion County who charge subscription fees for county residents know they’re in a tough spot.
“It’s like car insurance,” Edmison said. “I wish I could wait until I have an accident until I pay my premium on my car insurance, but it doesn’t work that way. So why should the fire service be looked at anything different?”
The self dubbed Fire Critic, Rhett Fleitz, has no sympathy for the homeowner who didn’t pay his bill and he also thinks the fire department is wrongly the fall guy in this one.
This situation is a black eye for the fire service. The fault lies with the homeowners for not paying the $75 fee. However, the public will not view it as such. The media is also jumping on the band wagon…saying that the homeowner is the victim. The only thing that failed here was the homeowner not paying the fee. Everything else operated as it should.
So many people are pointing the finger towards the fire department. Once again, they fail to look at policies. This is bigger than the fire department. If someone wants to change the policies they need to look to the South Fulton City Government.
I don’t know if it’s just a poor choice of words or my good friend Rhett has finally snapped after taking years of abuse about being short. Rhett has me really worried about him when he writes, ”Everything else operated as it should”. Huh?
I am starting to think that carpool I wrote about with Connie Xinos of Oak Brook, Illinois and the two council knuckleheads from Xenia, Ohio who want the firefighters to buy their own gear can now go in the HOV-4 lanes. Connie, give me a call for directions. Rhett will be standing at the curb waiting for you. Thank goodness IronFiremen.com is now aboard FireEMSBlogs.com so we can get something sensible from Roanoke. (BTW Rhett is so threatened about the blog by Willie Wines he put some frontal nudity on The Fire Critic today. I think we know who the real boob is. Desperate people do desperate things.)
Now back to our story. No, Rhett. Everything did not operate as it should. Firefighters put out fires and help people. They should not be put in the position where they can’t do that. And maybe it’s not the South Fulton Government that is necessarily the problem. Maybe Obion County should provide for its people by subsidizing the volunteer fire departments.
If that can’t be done, maybe a better answer to this problem comes from a Tennessee fire company with a similar issue. In the story below, after running into fundraising issues, the Karns VFD, five hours or so to the east of South Fulton, is going to a subscription type department. But it sounds like they are not refusing to respond to anyone’s emergency. They will bill those who aren’t members a pretty substantial fee for putting out a fire.
Far from perfect and still objectionable. But at least this way it won’t bring about video on national television of firefighters looking like they are at a marshmellow roast while someone loses all of their belongings. Let the bill collectors, accountants and courts do what they are supposed to do while firefighters do their jobs. (And Rhett, go do your job, admit you were wrong and apologize to your co-worker Willie for trying to steal his thunder on his opening week.)
Also on STATter911 …
- Local chief gives update on Obion County, TN ‘pay for spray’ policy. Union City’s Kelly Edmison says tax is cheaper than subscription, – December 9, 2011
- South Fulton Mayor David Crocker makes Keith Olbermann’s ‘Worst Persons’. – December 7, 2011
- Pay for spray in South Fulton, Tennessee could be changed today. Town is voting on putting out the fire & billing later. – March 15, 2012
- ‘Pay for spray’ update: Tennessee’s South Fulton FD says it was not on scene of controversial fire. Local chief says Kentucky company got close but had no authority to act. – December 9, 2011
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My name is Kelly Edmison. Chief of Union City Fire Dept. Union City TN. OBION County. We are 1 of the 8 city fire dept’s in Obion County. My department is the only fully paid dept.
Even though my department (Union City, TN) was not the department involved, it has been extremely hard viewing the news media storm this past week; especially, when no one has reported the truth about the situation yet.
Watching news cast after news cast with miss information makes me wonder just how much “other” news we see nightly about our country and world events is turned and twisted.
Obion County Tennessee does not have a county fire department. It does have 8 municipal fire departments. Union City, TN is the only full time staffed department in the county. The other 7 departments are volunteer departments; but like Union City, are city departments. Again, Obion County does not have a county fire department. Sadly, Obion County is one of two counties in the state who do not provide fire protection. County residents do pay county taxes. However, no tax money goes towards fire coverage. The 8 municipal departments are funded by each of their city tax payers.
Three of the cities, Union City, Kenton and South Fulton operate a subscription fire service in an attempt to help the rural people in their respective areas. Union City has operated this way for over 47 years. They all three charge a $75 per year fee. It’s not a tax. It’s not mandatory. But the service is there if they wish. The reason these three charge a fee, is because the cities do not feel it fair to take the city tax payers money and service and give it to county residents for free.
Their policies are the same. With the exception of a life endanger; if you don’t pay; they don’t come.
However, once South Fulton had to respond to take care of the neighbor whose property caught fire and was a subscriber, that’s the point where in my opinion the outcome probably would have been different. But I’m not South Fulton.
But here is what the public doesn’t understand. Right, wrong or indifferent, it was not the decision of the South Fulton Fire Chief or of his firefighters to not put water on the structure. Their orders came from their city manager and mayor and council. Was it wrong? Everyone has an opinion (We would have put it out if for no other reason than that we had to come anyway and that was the damn fire that was endangering the neighbor who had the coverage.) If they had tried to put it out the chief would have been fired, the fire fighters terminated and there wouldn’t have been any body left to help fight fire for the majority of the rural residents in their area who do pay the annual fee.
The remaining 5 departments (city departments) in the county have been going out into the county without a subscription service with the hope that after responding they will bill the home owner and collect. It hasn’t been working. One of these departments even though it is a city department, has to get change out of their outside coke machine that sits on the front of their station just to have money to put fuel in their tank. They get very little help from their own city, let alone NO revenue from the county. Financially these departments will be forced to either go to a subscription based service or draw back into their respective city limits. If that happens, there won’t be any fire protection in three quarters of the county.
No firefighter wants to see a home go up in flames; but especially for the volunteer departments, the cake sales and fish fries just don’t cut it anymore. One set of gear to out fit a firefighter can exceed $3,000. A fire truck easily costs more than a quarter of a million dollars. How many cakes do you think it will take? And who again is paying for this? The “city” taxpayer.
The state of TN guarantees that as a tax payer; city or county, you are promised two things. One, garbage pickup will be provided. And two, law enforcement will be provided. Fire service apparently isn’t considered that important.
What people need to know is the fire problem in Obion County is NOT South Fulton’s problem or any of the other 7 departments. It’s a county problem.
The other 7 city chiefs and myself have been working with the county for over four years now in trying to convince then to go with a fire tax like most counties in this country operate and we would all gladly get rid of this subscription crap. The county currently wants all cities to go subscription and the county will collect and distribute.
I as an individual have been catching holy hell this week from all over the country, and wasn’t even the department involved. All I have been trying to do is defend some brother firefighters who weren’t given a choice as to what they could do; defending a program, though not perfect has been a successful program in Union City at least for over 47 years. South Fulton has run theirs for 20. It’s kept the doors open and help provided protection to a majority of rural customers in our Union City area who if it were not for the blessing of our city government would not have any fire protection what so ever because the County still does not want to pass a fire tax for county residents.
It has been one week. Not one letter to the editor has appeared in any of the papers. I’m not hearing complaints from the county residents. I’m only getting my ass chewed out from one end of the country to the other. I apologize for interrupting your forum. It’s late; I’m mad, and I wanted to vent. Honestly, this has been the most civil forum I have come across. And the only one I have taken part it.
Hope you all stay safe and please never judge until you have the facts.
I guess if the county taxpayers aren’t worried about it, screw ‘em. Is there any kind of tax or fee for EMS?
How it looks to the public is quite important. Sure, you can ignore that and not include it in your equation. I think the reputation of a fire department within its community is very important. I also think the damage this has done to the reputation of firefighters, particularly volunteers is significant.
And I will maintain that since the residents of the affected community know going in what kind of system they live in, how could this incident affect THEIR image of the firefighters? All it proved to Obion County residents is that the subscription system is for real- maybe not really great, but we already covered what needs to happen if they want something different.
The only people thinking ill of them that I can see don’t live anywhere near Obion County, and disparage them from behind the safety of a keyboard and the anonymity of the internet. Ergo, irrelevant.
But did it look good to the public locally? It was a local station that did the original story. It was a local family so upset that they had to call the sheriff to the scene. It turns out the local fire chiefs hate this system and want it changed.
A byproduct of this now is it travels very around the country and around the world and it is bad for firefighters in general.
Statter
I agree this is a bad situation for the dept and not much can be done to repair their PR damage. But it all could have been avoided if the resident would have just paid the $75.00. And the people saying let them pay when you arrive, well all you liberals out there, this works the same as torturing a terrorist, they will say or do anything to make the suffering stop. Just like the home owners they’ll tell you we’ll pay anything just put it out, then comes time for payment and now your on the front page for taking advantage of a poor fire victim who chose not to pay the fee in advance, and now has just had a devastating fire and you want your money. You still look like bad guys and you’re still out the money to offset operating costs. Oh yeah, thats right everyone thinks it is their right to fire protection but they don’t want to pay for it, whether it be in the form of taxes or fire fees. It is an unfortunate situation for everyone involved but at least maybe now those deadbeats who choose not to pay will get the message that GAS, GRASS, OR ASS THIS RIDE AIN’T FREE! And for those of you reading this not in the fire service whether it be paid or volunteer, that stop complaining about how fast the firetrucks go by, then complain when its you they are coming to help that it took so long to get there, and go get an application and help raise money offset the cost of operating a fire dept.
But did it look good to the public locally?
And I quote Chief Edmison:
“Not one letter to the editor has appeared in any of the papers. I’m not hearing complaints from the county residents.”
A byproduct of this now is it travels very around the country and around the world and it is bad for firefighters in general.
Only for people without any information on the subject except “firefighters let a house burn down,” maybe. The people who would think less of firefighters are a result of a headline aren’t people who support firefighters anyway- the people you’re just never going to reach.
Anybody who actually puts some thought into it can see the situation for what it is.
The opinions expressed in the comments seem to vary in what is right and what is wrong. The bottom line here, the Fire Dept. FAILED to carryout the Core Values upon which the Fire and Rescue Service is established. I read where some comments speak “Not being of the Whining Liberals”That is an absolute
non factual remark. (1) Yes there is is an Annual fee $75.00
to pay for Fire Service. Since there is no County Fire Tax, whynot was/is the Fee Mandatory through the Local Powers to be?
(2) The reference of Insurance Payments as fee Payment is not in any way a comparison. “Home Owners Insurance is not Mandatory” If any home Owner so chooses not have Home Owners Insurance, they have to realize their decision is “Accepted Risk” in any event a Terrible Tragedy occurs. This Annual Fee was not Mandatory to ensure Public Safety Service which everyone is entitled to receive. The issue here is plain and simple the Fire Dept Responded but did nothing to provide Basic
Professional Customer Service. The fact the Fire Dept stood by and did nothing is an absolute Negative Image against what the Fire and Rescue Service stands for. Those who so easily support this type of careless reprehensible non responsive efforts shouldnot, under any measure ever speak nor refer to themselves/their association with any Fire and Rescue organization. These individuals arenot by any measured Standards. Whetehr the Local Fire Dept is in a city/urban Municipality, Volunteer, or Contracted the Basic Body of knowledge in any Fire Service Training is always, “Protect Life and Property”. Check the NFPA Firefighter 1 Standards.
I really believe what happened here is another issue of Politics over whelming the Citizens needs and expectations.
Would the Fire Dept have done nothing if there were People Trapped inside? Would the Fire Dept have done nothing if through all the emotions and stress this man suffered an unforseen Cardiac/Stroke Emergency right there on the scene?
The Fire Dept has a Professional/Moral Obligation and Duty to Perform in putting out the Fire and help save his Property. I use the Terms Professional and Moral Sparingly with reference to this Tragedy. Bottom Line The FIRE DEPT MUST ALWAYS TREAT
EVERONE whether fee has been Paid or not, Just the SAME WAY
AS They would EXPECT/WANT Their FAMILY to BE TREATED in any Emergency Crisis Scenario.
Thank You
There are a few local departments here that do a subscription service, the way it works here if they don’t pay the fire is still put out, but the money is collected by a lien put on that person’s house to cover the suppression activities and the water used when that person chooses not to pay.