Firefighters in rural Tennessee let a home burn to the ground last week because the homeowner hadn't paid a $75 fee.

Gene Cranick of Obion County and his family lost all of their possessions in the Sept. 29 fire, along with three dogs and a cat.

"They could have been saved if they had put water on it, but they didn't do it," Cranick told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

The fire started when the Cranicks' grandson was burning trash near the family home. As it grew out of control, the Cranicks called 911, but the fire department from the nearby city of South Fulton would not respond.

"We wasn't on their list," he said the operators told him.
Cranick, who lives outside the city limits, admits he "forgot" to pay the annual $75 fee. The county does not have a county-wide firefighting service, but South Fulton offers fire coverage to rural residents for a fee.

Cranick says he told the operator he would pay whatever is necessary to have the fire put out.
His offer wasn't accepted, he said.
The fire fee policy dates back 20 or so years.

"Anybody that's not inside the city limits of South Fulton, it's a service we offer. Either they accept it or they don't," said South Fulton Mayor David Crocker.

The fire department's decision to let the home burn was "incredibly irresponsible," said the president of an association representing firefighters.
"Professional, career firefighters shouldn’t be forced to check a list before running out the door to see which homeowners have paid up," Harold Schaitberger, International Association of Fire Fighters president, said in a statement. "They get in their trucks and go."
Firefighters did eventually show up, but only to fight the fire on the neighboring property, whose owner had paid the fee.

"They put water out on the fence line out here. They never said nothing to me. Never acknowledged. They stood out here and watched it burn," Cranick said.
South Fulton's mayor said that the fire department can't let homeowners pay the fee on the spot, because the only people who would pay would be those whose homes are on fire.

Cranick, who is now living in a trailer on his property, says his insurance policy will help cover some of his lost home.
"Insurance is going to pay for what money I had on the policy, looks like. But like everything else, I didn't have enough."

After the blaze, South Fulton police arrested one of Cranick's sons, Timothy Allen Cranick, on an aggravated assault charge, according to WPSD-TV, an NBC station in Paducah, Ky.
Police told WPSD that the younger Cranick attacked Fire Chief David Wilds at the firehouse because he was upset his father's house was allowed to burn.

WPSD-TV reported that Wilds was treated and released.

[Dom3k]: I have secret desires to **** a wolf.

I suppose what they really should do is make the 'emergency fee' so great and backbreaking that nobody would dare risk a fire and just pay the 75 instead.

yay for living in the uk where all these bills are covered in our tax

Um well if you read the article this is in a rather rural area as in a town so small taxes can't support a fire department.

In larger cities, the fire department is, as I mentioned, a municipality covered by fees everyone within the city to pay.

In small towns and areas too remote to support a full fledged department, it's often volunteers who operate the rural area fire truck. So the residents of the small towns and houses/businesses in the area pay these fees to fund keeping the truck maintained and everything, maybe even hire somebody to be full time,... usually not. To give the UK people an idea of how remote some of these areas of the US can be, we're talking maybe one paved road, mostly gravel roads, you're lucky to see your neighbors houses from your own. Some of the towns which have these pay-in volunteer fire departments have MAYBE 1000 people in them, and these departments have to cover like a 40x40 mile area dotted with farm houses and stuff like that.

So it's not like a house in the middle of downtown Washington D.C. caught fire and they refused to put it out. It's more like, your next door neighbor 4 miles away has a fire truck that he'll put out fires for 75 bucks, but not if you don't pay insurance in advance. Otherwise he'll have to sell the truck and nobody gets fire protection.

I agree with this. Put the fire out, then worry about money, and make it a ridiculously high payment so that they never make this mistake again. I'd take that deal, I don't care... I'd pay $5,000 for my stupid mistake if it meant saving my house.

Thats so stupid. Fire protection is supposed to be free

No. It's actually part of (usually) your property taxes.

[Dom3k]: I have secret desires to **** a wolf.

Free to a certain extent. You don't directly pay for it...