‘Pay to spray’: The politics of firefighting

last updated 8 January 2015

Gene Cranick did not intend to become a political symbol, said The New York Times in an editorial. He just wanted his house not to burn down. Unfortunately, Cranick, who lives in rural Tennessee, forgot to pay a $75 annual fire-protection fee to the nearby city of South Fulton. When Cranick’s double-wide trailer recently caught fire, South Fulton firefighters responded to his 911 call—but “declined to turn their hoses on.” Since they had not been paid to spray, they stood idly by as Cranick’s home—and his two dogs and a cat—was devoured by the flames. Therein lies a painful political lesson, said Brian Dickerson in the Detroit Free Press. The smoldering ruins of Cranick’s home have provided a horrifying glimpse of what conservative rhetoric about “limited government” and “personal responsibility” actually look like when put into practice.

The firefighters did “the right thing,” said Kevin Williamson in National Review Online. Cranick’s house lay far outside the usual jurisdiction of the South Fulton Fire Department, which only recently offered coverage to residents of that remote neighborhood as a special service. Cranick chose not to pay the “very reasonable” $75 annual fee. Yes, the firefighters could have shown compassion and doused the flames anyway. But by so doing they would have also extinguished any incentive for Cranick’s neighbors to pay the fee next year. Let’s be brutally honest here. “The world is full of jerks, freeloaders, and ingrates—and the problems they create for themselves are their own.”

I agree in principle, said Eric Zorn in the Chicago Tribune, but even libertarians have to accept some sense of community. When a person walks unarmed down a dark, isolated street, we don’t say the police should ignore him if he gets mugged or murdered. “The unluckiest or most hapless among us” will sometimes experience disaster, and “it violates our collective sense of decency to stand by while others suffer.” Firefighting, like policing, is “exactly the sort of government service that should be (loaded word alert) socialized.” And health care isn’t? said Ezra Klein in The Washington Post. If we’re horrified that firefighters let Cranick’s house burn down because he didn’t pay his fee, how can we tolerate the fact that some sick children get little or no care because their parents chose not to buy health insurance? Health care, like firefighting, is a “collective good” that no one should be denied.