Rat in the Hat
Gold Member
- Mar 31, 2010
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Most homeowners including this one have insurance that would be happy to pay that $15,000 vs paying off the entire home & contents. If they don't pay, put a lean on the property.
As far as $15k not being enough per fire on 1 in 200 homes. It is more than they are collecting if they all pay $75. The town will make far more with that $15k surcharge than they will watching houses burn & losing residents. It is a simple business decision that they screwed up.
Towns assess values to homes and charge taxes accordingly to pay for services like fire protection. And towns have no qualms whatsoever confiscating the house if the homeowner doesn't pony up those taxes. So the homeowner will be without a home just the same.
But in this case we don't have a town. We have a large unincorporated area in which the homeowners apparently chose not to organize a rural fire department but did form a contractual agreement with the city for fire protection in return for fees paid by the homeowners. It is all well and good to say that the homeowner should agree to pay the $15k when his house catches on fire, but in fact there is absolutely no means the city will have to collect it once the fire is out. They will have no legal claim on the property, no means of assessing taxes, no legal way to collect on a bill for services sent if the homeowner then admits he doesn't have $15k and no means to borrow it. And if the homeowner skips out on agreed payments, then that is that.
Again it works like any other insurance. And no insurance company will stay in business for long if it accepts payment for policies after the loss has been incurred or the claim filed.
We all are bleeding hearts with sympathy for that errant homeowner and contempt for a fire department that didn't put out the fire. But the brutal truth is that they were promoting the general welfare and ensuring that other homeowners would continue to have fire protection by not doing so.
I see your point & I also made it on one of these threads. The fire department should carry some quick claim deeds or lean agreements or accept cash, gold or phoned in & approved credit card payment up front. "Pay Before We Spray"
Why?
If they did that, what would be the incentive for property owners to pay up front? How would the VFD have funds to maintain and fuel their trucks?
Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have methods of collecting during the fire, if they can't get their apparatus TO the fire.