Reply #26: Regrettably the family don't really have a leg to stand on. [View All]

[mwooldri]

It's like the case of walking into Burger King and demanding to get a Big Mac.

Their county doesn't offer fire protection service. Unless they live in a city that provides fire service they have to buy it. The family had the option of purchasing the service, but declined to do so.

I am fortunate enough to live in a county where fire services are provided across the county and funded through property taxes. Although a lot of the rural stations are called "volunteer", they are more like "retained" fire-fighters, who have a normal day job, but if the pager goes off and there's an emergency (fire or medical), they drop everything and go. They do get some pay, and the taxes do appear to fund the stations adequately as far as buildings and equipment go - and if they needed more money I would have zero objection to see my taxes go up to support this.

Mark.