I wonder if the home owner was charged for the attempt to put out the fire. And I wonder if they sue your homeowners insurance if they get hurt trying to fight the fire. Just wait till fracking contaminates the water and they end up making the fire bigger and with deaths.

That was proposed by the Alien of Florida. Use convicts (don't have to pay them at all), and then the local government can charge the homeowners for the "service".

private fire fighting companies that ran past burning buildings to other sites because they didn't have contracts with them.

The fire chief rolls up to your home, has once of those iPad's with a credit card thingamajig attached to it, does a quick credit check, then takes your credit card to pay for their services, all before the contract firefighters are allowed to attach a hose to the fire hydrant (attaching the hose costs $175)...

It will stay on the 1st page longer.

Indeed - good luck with that.

I thought that we've evolved beyond the Gangs of New York level of firefighting in this country.

Now I have to that I was wrong.