Home burns while firefighters watch

[renaeden]

Think that fees for firefighting should be included with the land rates no matter where you live. Can't be too hard to implement this.

["couldbecousin"]

 It's surprising to me that people in other places have to pay separately for services
 I assumed everyone had.  Some of the hoarders featured on TV have trash piled in and
 around their houses because their communities charge a fee for trash removal and they
 can't pay it.  I guess that's why some people have landfill permits --- no trash pickup
 in their towns?  I never thought about it much before this past year. 

[renaeden]

Here we have general rubbish and recycled materials bins that are put out at the road and emptied each week. Also, house owners are given a certain number of rubbish tip passes every year when they pay land rates. There is also a general rubbish pick-up that happens about once a year. I call it "junk out the front" because people put out all kinds of things like old fridges, lounge chairs, other bits of furniture and old broken things, etc. GA and I once got an old computer chair this way.

No one is charged extra for these services, though. It is part of the council rates that homeowners pay.

["couldbecousin"]

 We do pay a fee where I live but it's easy to pay.  Instead of writing a check for X amount,
 as the homeowners in the above story failed to do, we buy the official city trash bags,
 which are bright yellow with a distinctive logo.  If we put trash out in any other kind of
 bag, the sanitation workers won't pick it up.  I don't mind, it's easy enough to do. 

[renaeden]

Yeah, we used to have bin people who physically picked up the rubbish bags and all. Difficult job physically. Now all bins are the same and emptied by a mechanical arm on the side of the rubbish trucks. The bin people don't have to get out of their trucks.

["couldbecousin"]

Yeah, we used to have bin people who physically picked up the rubbish bags and all. Difficult job physically. Now all bins are the same and emptied by a mechanical arm on the side of the rubbish trucks. The bin people don't have to get out of their trucks.

 Robotic bin emptiers are the wave of the future!   :grimlock:

[Parts]

As for the mortgage   question would think it's required like home owner's insurance.
For the trash I have pick up included in my taxes and don't have a choice in the matter. My brother in another city opts out of trash pick up and is charged $3 a big garbage bag  at the dump but normally just throws in the dumpsters on job sites

[renaeden]

When I bought my flat a few years ago, building insurance and contents insurance were optional things to have. I think they still are.

[Callaway]

Things like homeowner's insurance and flood insurance (if you live in a flood plain) are required by the mortgage holder, so I would guess the firefighter's fee in a rural area would probably be required too.  What they do is collect more money from you in your monthly mortgage payment and hold it in escrow to pay those bills when they are due.

I think that the article said that the firefighters would have acted, fee or no fee, if someone's life was in jeopardy, so maybe that's why they stood by and watched.

[Icequeen]

This is nuts.

Put the fire out and then bill them $75. I'm sure they would have been happy to pay that and maybe more, or maybe that thought never occurred to them.
 

["couldbecousin"]

This is nuts.

Put the fire out and then bill them $75. I'm sure they would have been happy to pay that and maybe more, or maybe that thought never occurred to them.

 Exactly!  I'd vote for Icequeen, she would bring common sense to public policy. 

[renaeden]

This is nuts.

Put the fire out and then bill them $75. I'm sure they would have been happy to pay that and maybe more, or maybe that thought never occurred to them.

Exactly!  I'd vote for Icequeen, she would bring common sense to public policy. 

Yes, this is the logic that is needed.

[Scrapheap]

This is nuts.

Put the fire out and then bill them $75. I'm sure they would have been happy to pay that and maybe more, or maybe that thought never occurred to them.

 Exactly!  I'd vote for Icequeen, she would bring common sense to public policy. 

She needs to form an exploratory committee and announce her candidacy first.   

["couldbecousin"]

This is nuts.

Put the fire out and then bill them $75. I'm sure they would have been happy to pay that and maybe more, or maybe that thought never occurred to them.

 Exactly!  I'd vote for Icequeen, she would bring common sense to public policy. 

She needs to form an exploratory committee and announce her candidacy first.   

 Something tells me she is too sensible to waste time with committees! 

[Scrapheap]

This is nuts.

Put the fire out and then bill them $75. I'm sure they would have been happy to pay that and maybe more, or maybe that thought never occurred to them.

 Exactly!  I'd vote for Icequeen, she would bring common sense to public policy. 

She needs to form an exploratory committee and announce her candidacy first.   

 Something tells me she is too sensible to waste time with committees! 

Even the IBTC??