Holy Smoke: fire department charges 20K to fight fire and the house still burnt down

[Burnt C6]

Home burns then fire department charges residents nearly $20,000

Justin Purcell and his family were out of their home in Surprise, Arizona when flames engulfed it in August. As reported by KSAZ Fox 10, by the time Justin arrived home with his family the firefighters were losing the battle to save the home. The cause of the fire was unknown. Justin told the station, "It's definitely a shocker when you come back and your house is gone." But Justin was in for another shock when two weeks later he received a bill from Rural Metro Fire Department, a private department, charging him $19,825 for their services in his unincorporated area that has no fire coverage. "Definitely was a surprise. It was a shocker when we got that," said Justin.

Justin reviewed the itemized bill and it listed a charge of $1,500/truck per hour and a significant cost for the three firefighters in each of the two trucks on the scene. "They were paying the firefighters $150 an hour and there were several of them," said Justin. Colin Williams, public information officer for Rural Metro defends the charges saying the rates are fair adding, "Those numbers are set based on 65 years on tradition buying equipment, training, operating a fire service." The family’s home insurance does not cover the charges.

Colin explained Rural Metro’s role in this fire saying, “In this case, [Surprise] firefighters responded. They did receive mutual aid from other departments. Once the fire is knocked down and brought under control, Rural Metro units then provide the overhaul and do essentially the mop up, if you will. So that takes a significant amount of time and a significant amount of resources." When KSAZ asked to see documentation about what the mutual aid agreement entailed, they were told by Colin, “We do have what I call a gentleman's agreement" and there was nothing in writing.

Surprise firefighters arrived at the house within 13 minutes and it took Rural Metro 24 minutes to arrive after the call. Their the closest firehouse is 20 miles away, Assessing the situation, neighbor Brian Repp said, "They got here late and his house is totally gone. OK. Then they're going to charge him $20,000 and they let his house go. I don't think that's right at all." Before the incident area residents thought they had fire coverage because they were paying a “fire district assistance tax.” But it turns out that that is a countywide tax that funds volunteer fire districts.

Arizona State Senator Chester Crandell admitted that fire coverage in Arizona’s rural areas is a mess, “Having county islands that have no service in, in uh, fireboards that are just packing up and leaving, going bankrupt… It's certainly something that needs to be addressed.” But until that time, residents of this unincorporated area have few options: Buy a yearly $500 subscription from Rural Metro for fire coverage, take the gamble of getting a bill if they have a house fire, or form their own fire district which could take months.

The Purcells have another place to stay for the time being they’re grateful to be safe especially with a newborn baby, but they have no idea where they will get the money to pay Rural Metro’s bill. Justin said, “If it was reasonable, and I don’t know what reasonable is on the amount of putting out the fire, but $20,000 you know to do a mop up on the fire is just ridiculous. I can’t believe it.”

More info: KSAZ

[VatorMan]

The area lives up to it's name. "Surprise" he ought to be glad he didn't live in Buttsex.

[Stangkiller]

Uhhh, nfw.

[Burnt C6]

I'll tell them to pound sand. They got there late the home owner didn't call them. They proved their services were not needed when they let it burn to the ground. $150 an hour per man? My daughter in law is a Houston fire fighter Trust me they get nothing close to that. Don’t give me the BS crap that you are paying for all the extras that it takes to employ them. My engineering company doesn’t bill at that rate.

[boracayjohnny]

Originally Posted by VatorMan

The area lives up to it's name. "Surprise" he ought to be glad he didn't live in Buttsex.

[Cybercowboy]

I've seen a rural volunteer fire department in action when my parent's home back when I was 16 had a small fire in the basement that was causing a bunch of acrid smoke. Suffice it to say I could have done much better with a garden hose compared to waiting for them to get there and then standing around with a thumb up their ass until one of them walked up to the sliding glass doors in the basement and threw a brick through the glass. Dad walks up, slide the now-smashed door open, saying "Hey, dumbass, the door was open. No need to smash it." Then they sprayed water all over the wrong room, when we were all telling them it was in the adjacent room.

Finally they sprayed a squirt of water on the pile of burning clothes and plastic, and left. Our house was so heavily smoke damaged by then it was a couple of months before we could move back in and it was never really the same of course. Our property taxes covered their expenses, I guess lucky for us.

Oh, and one of them tried to stop me from going into the home (upstairs) to retrieve our cat who I told them was hiding under my parent's bed. They told me no, it's too smoky. I said give me an oxygen mask. They refused. I went in anyway, holding my breath and crawling down low as possible. Got her, she was in bad shape, and crawled back all while still holding my breath. They just kinda looked at me.