Fire-fighting personnel across East Tennessee seem almost universally outraged by the actions of a small-town fire company on the other end of the state that responded to a house afire but was ordered to let the structure burn because the owner had not paid a $75 subscription fee.
"We don't particularly care who's paid his dues," said Steve Wheeler, chief of the Vonore, Tenn., Fire Department. "If somebody needs help, we help and worry about everything else later."
"Truly, a firefighter cannot stand by and watch something burn," said Doug McClanahan, chief of the Blount County Fire Department. "He can't stand by and not try to react to a fire or rescue. They are trained to take care of people."
The issue gained national attention when firefighters from the South Fulton, Tenn., Fire Department were called to a blaze at the home of Gene Cranick, who lived just outside the city limits in Obion County but within an area in which homeowners can subscribe to the agency's services by paying a $75 annual fee.
Cranick has said in cable television interviews that he forgot to make his payment and that he told responding firefighters he would pay their costs if they would douse the fire at his home.
Broadcast images of the incident show firefighters sitting in their trucks as the house burns to the ground in the background. Their only action was to spray a fence line next to the home of a neighbor who had paid his subscription, according to media reports.
Not all fire-fighting agencies in East Tennessee sell subscriptions for their services, but some that do are adamant that they would never let a structure burn depending on whether the fee had been paid or not.
Among such agencies is Rural/Metro, which handles fire-fighting duties for Knox County under the direction of Chief Jerry Harnish.
The chief said the South Fulton case is a "major topic of discussion" among those in his profession, and he finds it "kind of hard to relate to. People don't join fire departments to not respond to emergencies."
Wheeler's five paid and 15 volunteer firefighters, he said, are driven by the same sense of wanting to help people that causes most to get involved in such potentially dangerous work.
"It's in your blood," he said. "You love it. It's about helping people."
Wheeler said he does not know how the South Fulton team even knew Cranick was not a subscriber.
"We don't ask," he said, adding that he believes the firefighters who responded were probably anxious to attack the flames despite their orders.
Vonore's subscription is $100 a year.
He said his unit would not "let policies and stuff get in the way," and he related a story he heard from a different location in West Tennessee in which firefighters from one jurisdiction responded to a fire that was on the other side of a street that was the dividing line between their area and another agency's.
They let the fire burn until the second agency could respond but ultimately had to pay for the house following litigation.
Blount County residents who fail to subscribe to fire services for $110 will be presented with a hefty bill after firefighters finish their duties at a house fire.
McClanahan said it amounts to $2,200 for the initial call and $1,100 for every hour past the first two that firefighters are on the scene.
Wheeler said his department has no set fee but does ask the homeowner to assign to the fire department any insurance money designated for compensating the fire department.
Harnish said his department's subscription rate averages about 11 cents per square foot of structure, meaning the owner of a 2,500-square-foot home would pay a fee of about $275.
But Knox County's non-subscription charge leaves the others in ashes.
If no subscription is paid, he said, the standard rate is $1,200 per hour for each unit dispatched to the scene.
"And we never send a single engine to a fire," he said. "We send four engines and a ladder truck," meaning the homeowner is charged the hourly fee for each truck.
Knowing that, he said, most people realize it is "more reasonable" to pay the subscription fee.
it, your argument sucks.
