You Wouldn't Expect this . . . Right ?

[sabray]

I served as a volunteer firefighter and can't imagine standing down for this. It made me think though about some threads regarding rescue. Ive been on the water long enough to have helped when i see folks that need it. Have been helped when I needed it. Not to stew up a huge controversy again. I often felt that as citizens we would help each other when things went poor. within reason. So this situation really threw me and my confidence in people. Doesn't change me one bit I would have been hauling hoses off the trucks It made wonder once again about who we are.
.Fire Department Lets House Burn Down Over Unpaid Dues | Seer Press

[MarkJ]

Migrate to Australia.

[sabray]

Sailors are better then this in any country. This levels my argument that people will respond and help and won't stand by while someone suffers. Another reality check.

[rebel heart]

Very few people (except for Glenn Beck) agreed with that department did. I was a voly fire fighter myself and I never met anyone in my time in that department that would have stood idle with a structure fire (or medical, or anything else). The national associate of fire fighters condemned it as one of the worst things a fire rescue service has done in the country in recent memory and everyone involved should resign or be fired.

It was a very isolated incident in a very rural town with very poor people. In towns like that there's usually more going on than gets in the news (like the fire chief who called the shot used to date the guy's wife or whatever), and you can imagine the caliber of fire chief at a voly station in a town with a median household income of $22k.

It is in no way indicative or emblematic of fire rescue going on anywhere else in the country. In fact, it's the very old way that everyone (going back to Rome) bought fire protection. The fire brigades were private companies and you bought a little bronze emblem you put on your fence post from them every year. If there was a fire the brigade would show up and if you had the emblem they'd put it out. If not, tough luck.

It didn't take too long to figure out that that the cost of burning homes, homeless people, inability to stay in the work place, and lowered property values is far less than the cost of putting out a structure fire. And that's even before you get to the question of morality.

For any of us who served in the military, I myself did not fight for a country that would let someone's home burn down. If the guy is late on fees/taxes, you put the fire out then put him in collections or put a lien on him. But anyone who thinks that from a fiscal prospective it makes sense to privatize and allow opting-out of fire rescue service, they've never done a shred of research into the history of fire fighting or been a part of a unit.

[sabray]

News agency generally do a bad job. So I agree there is more going on here. Never the less its going on. Poor reporting has the same stand down mentality and I think its corrosive to our values. This thread will go really bad so mods shut it down at will. I know most boaters are better then this and thought it worth a brief introduction. You may be left to your own devices. enough said

[GordMay]

Glenn Beck is on the side of the firefighters. ➥ Glenn Beck on Gene Cranick's Home Burning Down: Firefighters Were Right to Let it Burn

[anjou]

Social ( that means, society, not comunism ) healthcare is another safety net we in Europe enjoy in one form or another. Its paid for by all, whether you need it or not, but should you need it, its a godsend.

When your bleeding to death, no one asks if you have health insurance before commencing treatment as its all paid for in taxes.
Same goes for fire fighting. Shoot first, ask questions after. Isnt that the American motto?

Pity you cant forget the commie stigma social healthcare has.

[Chief Engineer]

Just hope you don't need an ambulance in Monroe County (Florida Keys)
a simple transport to a medical center...... less than a mile cost 600 bucks.

[sabray]

Just glad hes not my neighbor. My neighbors fence line caught on fire I grabbed the 35lb extinguisher and put the fire out. the shed on the fence didn't catch fire end of story. I recharged the extinguisher. it sits at my front door. Now Maybe i should have been like well ill put it out if you you answer your phone and agree to recharge my extinguisher. then again Boat Us wont pull you tow you or touch you when need help unless the claim can be satisfied prior. So I hope my neighbors aren't glen Beck's or firefighters like these. No excuse

[TaoJones]

I've closed this thread because it's off-topic, political and will do nothing to further the collegial atmosphere we try hard to maintain at Cruisers Forum.

TaoJones