Other Depts. Threatened After Tenn. Home Burns

Dec. 8, 2011
OBION, Tenn. -- A volunteer firefighter in Tennessee says his department is getting ugly threats after a different department in the area allowed a home to burn down because the owner had not paid a fire protection fee.

OBION, Tenn. --

A volunteer firefighter in Tennessee says his department is getting ugly threats after a different department in the area allowed a home to burn down because the owner had not paid a fire protection fee.

Randy Evans said callers to the Obion Fire Department - which serves the city of Obion - have threatened to burn the fire station and harm firefighters. The department took down its Facebook page because it was overwhelmed with hateful messages, according to WPSD-TV in Paducah, Ky. ( http://bit.ly/uumB3Y).

The anger was spurred by a policy of the Obion County Fire Department, which prevents firefighters from dousing a fire if the homeowner has not paid the fee. Evans says it's time to find a better answer to fire service funding than the "pay for spray" policy.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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