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western NY | I farm and am also a volunteer firefighter, have been since I was a freshman in High School. I'm not stupid as you may think, somehow with the limited brain power that you state that I have as a farmer I manage to farm 1,100 acres 1/3 of which I own and make around 25% of the fire calls in my department which amounts to around 200 a year. I have served as leutennant (sp) for two years but gave it up because i couldn't commit the time required not because I was to ignorant as you may think. I hold over a dozen certificates from the NY State fire protection school including, Essentials of Firemanship, pump operations, ladder operations, Has-mat operations, saftey and survival, and many more I can't remember. But I guess I'm still just a dumb farmer in your stuck up Maryland eyes.
As for what I think of what happened in TN. Well the guy didn't pay his bill, I've heard it was a one time oversight and also he had never payed at all. even if it was a one time oversight don't you think he would have at some point gotten a second bill or reminder? He had apperantly lived there for some time so he must have been fermilure with the system he was living under, not a surprise as some have said. I have simpothy for him and his family but also see the whole picture. It is a city fire department and if you live outside the taxing jurusdiction you must pay up front for service, just like insurance. You wouldn't expect to be able to buy crop insureance in the middle of a hail storm, would you? The plain fact is someone has to pay for the service since there is no fire tax.
I will say it is sort of hard for me to imagine in this day and age that there are still places in this country where there are no co-operative mutual aid agreements between municipalities. Around here (NY State) we have had mutual aid agreements in place for over 100 years. Basicly if our department is called on for help by another department anywhere in the state we respond. An example was back about 12 years ago we went over 150 miles to help departments in the north country with a major ice storm. Also just last year some area departments helped out after a flood in the Zoar Valley about 100 miles southwest of here. No one got paid they just went because they were called and the only payment is that if needed we could expect the same help. On a more regular basis we fill in or respond to the scean of neighboring departments calls whenever asked. Just today we were called to stand by with a ladder truck at another department while they were out. This goes for both payed and volunteer departments. As for funding most departments here get some sort of government money and supplement that with donations. The hitch is if you have a good tax base or not, dictates what you can afford for equipment but, this doesn't matter when you call for mutual aid. you could be from no where po-dunk with one 59 Chevy pumper and call for aid from the city of Buffalo and still get help no questions asked.
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Pissed with the firefighters
