South Fulton firefighters did it again. A home in Obion County Tennessee burned to the ground as responding units watched from their fire engines. Readers will recall this same fire department just last year watched as a home burned to the ground as the homeowners pleaded for help. Inside that home were family pets and generations of family heirlooms, all was lost.

This week they did it again reports the Wall Street Journal.

Firefighters responded when the home in Obion County, Tenn., caught fire, but didn’t extinguish it because the fee that the nearby town of South Fulton collects hadn’t been paid. Last year, another home — which also contained three dogs and a cat — in Obion County also burned to the ground for the same reason.
The South Fulton mayor, David Crocker, said the city makes no exceptions. “There’s no way to go to every fire and be able to keep up the manpower, the equipment, and just the funding for the fire department,” he said, according to MSNBC.
Crocker also noted that firefighters will help people in danger, whether they have paid or not.
Nearby Blount County, Tenn., also has a subscription service, but the fire chief says the same situation wouldn’t happen there, according to The Daily Times. Blount County charges a $100 annual fee, but nonsubscribers can pay $2,200 for the first two hours firefighters respond to a scene, and $1,100 for each additional hour.
After last year’s fire, the Obion County commission voted to expand subscription-based service in the county, over the objections of people like fire chief Bob Reavis, who said, “Subscriptions should be left to newspapers and magazines,” Time reported.

My previous post on this subject elicited 84 comments, by far the biggest response in the 8 years I’ve been blogging. I was late to this news but my inbox has been flooded with Tennessee locals beyond furious at this latest news.

If you are so inclined fire away, Firefighter Blog wants all opinions.

(Generic image, not South Fulton)