Scouse Express

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4242734.html

You may want to check with your Insurance Company, about Fire Protection.



Jim

robin1234

Odd, if the town FD was already attending the fire, what role was the private fire department playing? It sounds like maybe in some of these rural areas, there are regional private fire depts that can provide backup to the town volunteer fire depts. but if that is the case, towns should pay their bills, not individual homeowners. That way, all residents would automatically pay for the backup service in their property taxes.

Mrs Danvers

Sniffing out a "business opportunity".

Yorkieabroad

I've seen the reports before of fire departments standing by and watching the house burn because the owners haven't paid their taxes, but never seen anyone being charged for it, especially when they weren't actually able to do anything except damp down the ashes. Seems a bit rough, especially when it appears they were pretty late to the party and weren't actually invited in the first place!

steveq

don't you hate cliquey bonfire parties....

Bob

A friend found out they got a rate hike for not having a hydrant within so many feet of the house as they were told to get a certificate from the fire chief when they bought the place and then found out there weren't any in the town

robin1234

I remember that when we last got homeowners insurance. Our nearest hydrant is six miles away. I think rural fire departments know about that, they bring their own water!

Bob

Yup, that's what happens at this town....but it's hardly out in the sticks

Pulaski

Yeah, we pay a premium on our insurance for not having a nearby hydrant, I think it's a hundred bucks or so. The local volunteer fire department have their own tanker.

The nearby city tried to annex our area a few years back, which would have meant msins water and fire hydrants, so reducing our insurance, .... at the expense of DOUBLING our property taxes! The residents of the area, indicating by the only medium open to us at that time: an indication as to whether we wanted city water, on which the city was obligated to plan/budget for service provision. The city gambled we wouldn't want water, but it was going to cost the city "$millions" to lay water and sewer lines we requested, and we knew they couldn't afford that, so we deliberately priced ourselves out of the deal, by 80%, making a clear statement that the city could bu99er off!

WEBlue

We noted our nearest fire hydrant (around the corner around 200 feet away) before we bought our house. I hope it's functional.

This area is very woodsy and looks like it's out in the middle of a nowhere forest, but there are hydrants visible at regular intervals along the streets. The town fire station is a mile and a half away.

Pulaski

I just reread my own posted, and realised that I had not pointed out that if the city had completed the annexation as they envisaged, our tax bill would have been doubled, but we'd have had no mains water or hydrants, and therefore still had the insurance surcharge for not having a nearby hydrant.

Yorkieabroad

Our nearest hydrant is right across the street...they come and test it twice a year.

TimFountain

I loved this comment!

Welcome to libertarian paradise, where government has no function and everything is an outrageous fee for inadequate service.

Fire insurance will go the way of health insurance. When you have a fire you will call your fire insurance company to get authorization to have the fire department come out. They'll also check to make sure it's not a pre-existing fire. They'll call the corporate fire station that they contract with (not the closest one). The fire corporation will get to the house and start fighting the fire, but will have to stop occasionally to call the insurance company to get approval to use water or rescue trapped people.

The next day you'll get an itemized bill from the insurance company. It will have the words "THIS IS NOT A BILL" on it. They'll charge you for the truck, hose rental, water (which came from a fire hydrant) and for a new set of protective gear for each of the fire fighters. It will also have incomprehensible things like "tire tracks" and "siren noises" on it. It'll be for $100,000. The insurance company will pay them $5,000.

Unless, of course, they find out you lied on you fire history. Poor you, you didn't tell them that you occasionally built campfires, and they found out. Claim denied.