Obion County, TN home burns while South Fulton firefighters watch, again. The City of South Fulton FD offers surrounding Obion County residents firefighting services for a $75 annual subscription, but not all county residents choose to subscribe (previously).

The last time this happened, the city of South Fulton, Tennessee, received a lot of heat nationwide for this policy. That was more than a year ago but nothing has changed.

The mayor said it comes down to simple business. If they don't collect fire fees, the fire department can't survive and if they make exceptions to the rule, no one will ever pay the fee.

Obion County lacks a fire department (pdf) and county residents, who do not pay taxes for firefighting, are provided firefighting services through local cities and towns, either by annual subscription or a per-call fee.
posted by 6550 on Dec 8, 2011 - 227 comments

Firefighting with an Air Tractor (SLYT with unflattering music).
posted by exogenous on May 10, 2009 - 23 comments

Why the West is ablaze. [more inside]
posted by clearly on Jul 10, 2008 - 28 comments

Santa Ana Speeds the Spread of So Cal Fires
Five separate fires are burning in San Diego County, including several densely populated suburban areas. Dozens of homes have been burned. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar has been affected, including an FAA air traffic control installation. 16,000 people in the South Bay lost electricity when a major distribution line went down. Many San Diego firefighters went up to Camp Pendelton yesterday. (1, 2)
posted by rschram on Oct 26, 2003 - 42 comments

Gigantic airships to fight forest fires
An airship carrying just under one million litres (265,000 gallons) of water could release an artificial rainstorm over wildfires. It's a big project, but airships with that kind of lift capacity are already in the works.
posted by Irontom on Jun 24, 2002 - 7 comments