DescentBB

This can only happen somewhere beauracracy has gone completely stupid, and the people have followed on - becoming even more stupid than the red-tape. OMFG. If I was THIS GUY I'd go get myself a semi-automatic rifle and head down to the Niles Fire Station and take a few extra boxes of ammunition with me!

How could you be a firefighter - and sleep at night after you did that? I call those guys complete #$%@ bags, dicks, wankers, toss-pots, scum-sucking pig-dogs, and blind billicose bastards. Oh, and uncaring, empty-headed pricks.

this happened 30 minutes from me, by the way...

do you have any idea how bad those firefighters would have gotten owned by the city if they had put out that fire? this is america, mobius. you cant go around putting out other peoples fires. tell me this, would you put out someones fire if it meant you might lose everything? keep in mind there was no children or anything in the house - then it would be a different story.

as much as i'd like to be joking, i'm not. we've had policeman and firefighters here in my city lose their jobs, get sued, and divorced because they got fired and sued, just because they tried to do the right thing. just be glad they stuck around to make sure nobody got hurt. the guys renters insurance should cover him, unless he was a moron and didn't carry any. a guy with a fiancee and children should definately have some, if he doesn't well... natural selection anyone? =)

people here sue other people for performing cpr on somone after their certification is expired. i mean cmon, they save your life and you sue them because they were supposed to get it renewed before they performed cpr and they didn't. thats just how it is.

and yet when there are major wildfires blazing that threaten homes, Firefighters are called in from other surrounding states to aid in putting out those fires, assisting local fighters.....hmm...

No sir, price you pay for living in bumbledee **** USA. They're seriously going to have to look at the rules and figure out a better system to help protect those that live outside of city limits. So that the closer fire department, regardless of what town it is in, is obligated to respond.

Hell, off duty police can assert their Law Enforcement abilities outside their jurisdiction as long as the local law inforcement are informed and responding.

Thats a half ass backwards way to running things. Hope he had insurance, and then I'd go after both cities, one for not responding fast enough and the other for watching my home and belongings burn.

yeah, the laws need to be changed, or maybe the way the laws are enforced needs to be changed. i just cant blame the firefighters though, especially after some of the stuff that ive seen about it in the paper.

they mentioned in the paper something that happened here a few months ago, where a firefighter who was off duty happened to be driving by an apartment building and he noticed a small fire in a bedroom. So, he did what anyone would do and busted into the ladies apartment and put out the fire. Of course, the lady sued him because he "traumatized her" by busting into her apartment in the middle of the night, scaring her to death. he lost his job and the lady got something along the lines of a million dollars. it was nuts.

i know that isnt exactly the same thing, but think about it like this: these things happen in the cleveland area all the time, so if you were a firefighter in the cleveland area and you've read about all of these things and have seen them on the news, would you break a rule that could result in you losing everything to save some guys material goods? these firefighters probably have their own family to protect. like i said before though, if there were people in the house it would be totally different. if they allowed people to burn to death becuase it was outside of the city limits, them and their bosses should face a murder charge.

Sucks. But unfortunatly the world is run by money.

I'm siding with kurupt, only because I used to live in Canton.

really? where you at now?

<---- akron

new orleans

Sad thing is, that also happened in Memphis not too long ago. Needless to say, both the fire department and the city got blasted BIG TIME for it....but nothing ever came of it. It sucks, but thats life.

Oh well, I'm sure if the fire fighters had acted, I find it difficult how the community could firemen, fire them.

thats pretty ****ty, tho. i hope the bastard who screwed up the trasnaction gets his as kicked royally.

The laws need to be changed.

If this happened to me, I would threaten to shoot the fire chief if they wouldn't act. Thats my life and blood and if they have to watch it burn down and not put it out then im going to have to be a little mean about it.

Afterwards I would sue the cities involved and use the money to start an awareness campaign to notify the people and get the laws changed.

This is disgusting. Im sorry I live in such a country with such laws.

Then go live in Russia. These men are just trying to do their job. Blame the state I tell ya!

Sage, have you ever had a friend or relative that had their home reduced to ashes? If not, then you can't exactly judge our harsh opinions on the matter. My uncle is still scared ****less of thunderstorms after one torched his house over a year ago.... Lightning hit and underground power line and it literally blew up the fusebox. The marshall said that if anyone had been inside, there was no possible way they would have survived.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Arial" size="3">Originally posted by Sage:
These men are just trying to do their job.</font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Funny how you should say that because these in particular aren't doing what they are expected to do. Just doing their job? How about doing something that is RIGHT for once?

Hmmmm. This whole issue is indicative of a society out of balance. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - the USA is a government OF the lawyers, BY the lawyers and FOR the lawyers. You guys have specialised in it.

Your legal system is a complete mess. Here's two really good examples from my own personal experience.

1) Skiing in Vermont (Mt. Snow): There was a big run called Long John - which was almost 5 miles long - and smack in the middle of a this run was a tree. Well, a guy skied into it and broke his back - so he sued the ski area. Yup. He won about 3 million or something stupid like that. So, the ski area cut the tree down the next summer. The following year was a lean slow year, and someone skied into the stump of the tree (despite it being roped off) - and yup - you guessed it - sued the ski area and won about the same amount of money. Now *THAT* is insane.

2) When I lived in the USA, my Dad was teaching Doctor-Patient relationship medicine to 5th and 6th year med students. Well, he doesn't have an MD qualification - only an MB.ChB, FRNZCGP, Dip. Obst., and an FRNZCS - and that means he wasn't officially a "Doctor" in the USA. He did however, qualify for an "Equivalence" which let him "practice" with consenting patients, for the purposes of his teaching classes.

Well, here in NZ, Dad was a member of the "Flying Doctors" which was a team of on-call Doctors who would be called to the scene of car crashes at the same time as the emergency services. He regularly took me to these crash sites from the time I was about 9 to just before I got my licence (at 15). Now believe me - by that time I had a full and complete appreciation for the FACT that people who wear seat-belts walk away without a scratch, and those that don't, generally die, or are horrendously injured. (Another stupid USA custom: no seat belts. Utterly retarded!)

Anyway - Dad would ALWAYS stop at any road-side incident to give any assistance possible - and we did that several times over the years - on several occasions, saving lives!

Now, when Dad arrived in the USA, we was told in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that if he stopped to give medical assistance to ANYONE he would be instantly struck off the Brown University Staff, and he'd probably be sued by the person(s) he'd helped.

That THAT is some seriously FCUKED UP SH!T.

Now, there are many fantastic things about the USA - and this is not meant to be a "NZ kicks your ass post" - but merely as a juxtaposition of the situation here in NZ.

The above two situations in New Zealand:

1) Run into a tree on a ski run: **** man - that's real bad luck - but at least your medical bills are paid for by the government and you'll get 80-90% of your wage while you recover. Sorry, you can't sue ANYONE for ANYTHING. You from overseas? No worries, same thing applies.

2) Run into a tree stump on a ski run: See No.1

3) Stop to give medical aid: get a medal.

4) Fail to stop to give assistance, and you're a registered doctor? If the NZMA finds this out, you'll be HEAVILY reprimanded for ignoring your Hypocratic Oath!

Sure, I can see that firemen don't want to risk everything they've got to help someone - but it's a symptom of a sick society where people are discouraged (or worse, punished!) for doing the right thing.

The ridiculous law suits we hear about in New Zealand, (being prosecuted in the USA) not only would never make it to court, but lawyers would laugh their ass of at you and tell you to go get a life.

I find it inconcievable that the situation has deteriorated to the point where firemen will idly stand by and watch a home burn down, because of some boundary on a map.

I find this very disturbing indeed. Because I *KNOW* that Americans are (generally!) wonderful, helpful, generous people who care deeply about themselves and their fellow men. However, the rules you live under make the country as a whole, a nasty, cold, dangerous place to be. The policies of the present administration make it not even safe to be another country for goodness sake.

Perhaps it is symptomatic of being the richest country in the world, with a population that is greedy and scared. With so much to lose, the USA has become paranoid and risk-averse.

It seems to me, like the USA can't take any risks any more - and when accidents happen, something or someONE must be to BLAME. When the horrible truth of the matter, is that this life revolves around being lucky.

If you are lucky, you get through life with no problems - if you are unlucky, you'll die, or worse, and when you get unlucky, that's mostly just what it is - there's seldom any negligence onvolved - and life itself is very risky.

I'm saddened by the way the world is going - this complete and utter lack of personal and civil responsibility is going to be one of the major problems facing the USA in coming years.

The real problem is: can you kill enough lawyers, and enough politicians to change the way the system is? because like I said, It's government of, by and for lawyers.

*sigh*

lotta good points mobi, you guys are all lucky, in taiwan the medical system is becoming a lot like the US full of lawsuits and such, but if you get ran over and have no money nor insurance guess what? NO TREATMENT! they kind of bandage you up and send you on your way. and if you have insurance they treat you like ****, only if you say "i am paying cash in full" will they actually treat you like a patient (in US standards)

Judges here in the states just need to rediscover what "contempt of court" means, and start making it a dangerous affair to be trying to sue someone over something trival, Make civil suits something that demands respect again, not something that everyone uses as a "get rich quick" scheme.

Sad thing is.....Mobi is right. Kindof a "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of situation.....