Firefighters not living up to their contract

The story below indicates firefighters are reluctant to risk their lives to save property because homeowners have not removed fire hazards from around their property.


The firefighters have a monopoly. The homeowners are forced to pay taxes that pay for fire protection. The buyer of that protection is entitled to the protection contracted for. If the firefighters, paid by the state, want to change the terms of the contract with the home owner, I can understand. However, they should give back the money paid them to the home owners and allow the home owners to shop for other fire protection with a private contractor who might accept the home owner's terms.

Charles Tolleson (Bilbo Baggins)



Firefighters hesitating to risk lives
Officials growing reluctant to risk lives for homes owners
The Associated Press Oct 2, 2007


SALT LAKE CITY - Fueled by drought and development, wildfires in the West are getting bigger and more aggressive, creating conditions so dangerous that fire bosses are increasingly reluctant to risk lives saving houses — particularly if the owners have done nothing to protect their property.


From Southern California to Montana, seven firefighters have died this year battling blazes that have destroyed more than 400 houses — a dramatic increase from last year.


The firefighters’ job has been made more hazardous by an onslaught of houses and vacation cabins being built across the rugged West — some of them inside national forests. An estimated 8.6 million houses have been built within 30 miles of a national forest since 1982.


“There’s the frustration of knowing these people aren’t taking care of their home, and why do we have to do it?” said John Watson, a Fairfield, Mont., firefighting contractor who uses a 750-gallon fire engine to protect remote houses. “I’ve asked them, ‘Do you understand the danger?’ There isn’t a whole lot that needs to be done to mitigate the threat, but they won’t do it. They say: ‘I’d rather have my cabin burn down with the trees than have you cut some down.”’

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21102611/