We should privatize the Fire Departments

I don't see why I should pay taxes to pay for the Fire Departments if I don't want to. Why should it be mandatory? We should privatize the Fire Departments.

Each Fire Department should itself be a private company. There should even be multiple fire departments to call wherever you live. Competition will increase both the speed of their response times, as well as the quality of their service and gear. Plus it would lower taxes because we wouldn't have to pay for both the fire departments themselves, nor the service calls they make to put out fires.

Of course the insurance companies will want to get in on this, because the cost of a fire could be way to high for the average family to pay for. So people can purchase fire department insurance for the instances when their house burns down. If you own a mortgage the bank might force you to purchase some sort of coverage, but it's the bank's house, not yours, so how can you argue?

You could get different levels of coverage. Some people who can afford it could get coverage for any type of fire. Small kitchen fires to whole house fires. Heck it might even have cat in a tree coverage. Whereas if you can't afford it you could get coverage with deductibles, like $10,000 or $20,000 which you're responsible for so if the whole house burns down you're not culpable for paying for the fire department response. Remember this has nothing to do with the value of the house, just the response of the fire department. Fire insurance is something totally different.

Of course some people might just try to put fires out themselves rather than paying for the fire department to come. That's their perogative. And some might just not call at all, because they just can't afford it. of course that means the fire might spread, and catch the neighbors house on fire, hopefully he has fire department insurance. If he has good enough insurance he can havge the fire department come and spray water on his roof to make sure the fire doesn't spread to his house, as they watch the neighbors house burn down, with their family inside burning to a crisp.

Privatizing the Fire Department might cost more overall, and add additional levels of waste by adding private companies, additional companies competeing against each other, and the insurance companies with their own overhead. And sure it might endager some people who can't afford it....

But we'd have the best fire departments in the world, with the fastest response times for those able to buy into the system!

I see no reason why we can't do this. I mean we did it with health care right?

Right?

and they come back and say that those who use the services should pay for them. Or... we'll just have a volunteer fire department. What do you call a volunteer police department? A militia? Vigilanties? Oh yeah, they like those, too.

I know it's satire, yes, but still...

to see the futility of "private" fire departments and why it doesn't work...





And in fact some degree of privatization is happening down in San Diego, after the last two big fires down there...

There are more private outfits that are protecting the wealthy homes down there when the public resources are inadequately funded to take care of protecting peoples' homes, making owning a home out in the remote areas more risky for the average person, even if those areas housing tends to be cheaper than closer in to the city and north suburbs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=af3wCbWHvK4w&refer=home

http://www.jbs.org/article-archive/2274-wildfires-spawn-private-firefighting-companies

http://byzantine-ruins.livejournal.com/1002685.html

And of course a lot of this has been made more necessary because of the negligent attitude SDG&E takes towards making sure its power lines aren't in a state to cause more fires too.

http://eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/774

Instead of going out and spending the money to ensure that power lines are in proper safe shape, SDG&E has just wanted the ability to shut off power on days when there's an increased risk for wild fires. Thank you to our own Liberty Belle for putting together the publication resources to cover these news items!

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/1514

See how nicely corporate America is taking care of its own, but screwing the rest of us?

It makes the point hit home perfectly with me.

But the Freepers will probably be telling you that "your neighbors" would need to come and help you fight a fire if you had one, right?

+1 :thumbsup:

but you DON'T have to pay for a Fire Department if you don't want to.
This example is just as weak as the military one.

Please explain how one opts out of paying for a local fire department.

A FD tax is a voluntary tax, not a mandatory tax.

Make the example an argument by a citizen of a city with a public fire service, to privatize that service.

Not very practical if I have to move from Washington the State to Arkansas to exercise my freedom from paying my FD tax. Nice try, but no cigar.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6400634&mesg_id=6403519

and

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6400634&mesg_id=6405007

one of those "i've got mine so screw everybody else" kind of people.

http://angrytownhall.com/

http://twitter.com/angrytownhall

:rofl:

It's stuck in committee where a compromise is being hammered out. Only the shirts will be brown.

Pay for your coverage for the current calendar/fiscal year and get your sticker or go without fire service. Notas unheard of in the US as one would think.

Such as;

bismarckfire.org/Buy_Fire_Tag_NOW

i remember them tackling fires in the california wildfires to protect individual houses.

We need some federal legislation to cover that.

and some enterprising person buys a pump and locates it 5 miles away and charges you if you need it, whats the problem with that. when you get out into the country sometimes stuff is just far away, and sometimes the government stuff is real far away so private business steps in.

Lots of unincorporated areas do not have a paid governmental fire protection force.

and forget about the more rural areas...

sponsored by fire insurance companies.

The company logos they now use are often from the original plaques you stuck on your house when you bought fire insurance. Should you catch fire, the fire companies would fight the fires at plaqued houses and send the bill to the insurance companies. No plaque and you're fucked.

This, of course, ended badly more often than not since the uninsured house, burning freely, simply served to set the rest of the neighborhood on fire.

Eventually, volunteer and paid city fire companies had to start to make sure ALL fires were fought.

Personally... if I were the fire officer on the scene, I would have stopped it only if I had determined that surrounding structures were in danger (in which case the companies prioritize and apply a water stream to those structures), or if there were people
trapped in the burning structure.

its kinda like auto insurance, if you dont have full coverage then you cant expect to have your vehicle replaced....

That's why communities decided to institute public departments with professional fire fighters.

Some of the shenanigans early fire companies engaged in were hiding hydrants under barrels so competing companies that got to a fire first couldn't put it out and collect the fees. Buildings burned to the ground as competing fire fighters fought each other instead of the fire. Equipment was sabotaged, water lines broken, etc., and many neighborhoods didn't have any means to put out a fire because the fire companies wouldn't go in.

"All the property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation
of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his
natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all
Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the
Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore
by other laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick
shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society
on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can
have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his
Club towards the Support of it."

Since the dawn of man, our malcontents have had a place to "go away"... live in a cave on a mountain, or deep in the woods, or something like that. Off to Oregon! The deserts of Arizona! Etc.


But for the past century or so, we really don't have that option anymore.

You're ALWAYS part of the system, although different states and regions make your part of it larger or smaller.

Someone just linked me to this video, which makes the point nicely.

your untreated fire will help itself to your neighbors house and his neighbor... untreated fires can become everyones problem rather quickly.

had volunteer fire departments (usually every one in the community who could walk). But in case of forest fires, they fought the flames until the professionals could arrive like the smoke jumpers and national guard. I wonder how that would work if they were privatized?

The insurance companies could also use the same logic for this as they use for health claims: if you were playing with matches, or you use electricity, or if you cook, or barbecue or even live near power lines, you obviously brought the fire on yourself & are negligent so they don't have to pay!

And if it's an "act of God" like lightning, they don't have to pay! The only time they have to pay is if a total stranger burns your house down!

Also the privatized Fire Depts. could decide which insurance coverage they would bother responding to. Just like doctors who are "out of network" or won't take Medicaid. This could save a lot of money...thanks for posting!:fistbump: