Please support this, next time it might be YOU

[taz3]

Why as a kid are you riding in a back of a cruiser? and as a false alarm?

what im trying to get at is that they almost play on the human emotion that you WILL pay beacause you made it out alive.

I was smart enough to keep my nose clean, but the company I was in, didn't always do the same!

Ya, a tire company used the same emotional play on the general public in a sales pitch. In all honesty more public education would also be beneficial, but that will just lead to more billing to us! We just can't win!

[sumner4991]

There was a town in TN that was only putting out the fire if the taxes were paid . . .they let a house burn to the ground while they watched and made sure it didn't spread to the other tax paying homes . . .that's one way to get the tax paid and on time, I suppose . . .

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Fi ... 52668.html

[wheelie]

Please Correct me if I'm wrong taz. But you gladly paid it? Even though you paid for it many times over previously?

There should be a frequent flyer fee perhaps, alone the lines of "mr shot Scott, this is the 5th time this month that you've fallen out of your ground blind and needed the services of our lovely ambulance attendant mrs Jennifer love Hewitt, here is your bill for 2000.00"



Out of them all I think it should be the police dept who should be charging the repeat offenders. Some cops know the frequents by name. Same with the ambulance driver called to clean up drunk mr Scott yet again this week. But not the once in a lifetime emergency call maker.

Hey, I never realized that, every time I road in the back of a cop car as kid and it was always a false alarm, I never paid for any of them!

I used to love riding in the back of a police cruiser every week. Stop at stop lights and have a big pout on my face for the cars next to me. I would mouth the words "help me" to them. My Dad always wondered why I wanted the be in the back seat and not the front seat with him. And you people even footed the gas money for the cruiser and my Dad to drive me around.

[Ont_Excal]

I live in a rural area along the shore of Lake Erie.
My fire department is not full time. It's manned by volunteers and when they respond to a rescue it will be from home, work or social function.
This service is made up of friends and neighbours.

Recently I came across some old paperwork as my mother kept everything.
I found the hospital bill for my birth and that did not include the doctors bill.
Hidden or otherwise, we have been paying additional fees for a very long time.

[Tom]

I just hope that the people that are against me here are not the next person that gets charged for a rescue.

Below is the actual bill and the make up of the cost they are chargeing him for.

Scugog asks Oshawa angler to pay $5,392.78
SCUGOG -- Scugog firefighters were called on Jan. 13 to rescue Neil Robbescheuten, who was fishing on Lake Scugog and got lost in the fog while trying to return to shore.
On Jan. 22, the Scugog Fire Department sent him a bill for its services:

- Three fire trucks, for two hours, at $500/hr: $3,000

- One fire truck, for one-and-a-half hours, at $500/hr: $750

- Fifteen firefighters, for two hours, at $32.21/hr: $966.30

- Fourteen firefighters, for one-and-a-half hours, at $32.21/hr: $676.48

For a total bill of $5,392.78.

29 firefighters, 4 fire trucks to help someone who is stuck in the lake in mud. Two trucks and half the people should have been the maxium needed.

Another thing is 911 calls are suspose to be protected by privacy laws in Canada. Firefighters, police, medical workers sent out by the 911 dispatchers are suspose to maintain that privacy. It is the law that communities are not allowed to use police reports for billing purposes (privacy laws) so then how is it possible for firefighters able to pass on personal information.

I started this thread so there could be a correction for a wrong in my opinion. There are too many people that are short sighted figuring that they will never have to be rescued so they have no need to stop this unfair fees. I did not start this thread to start arguements like some here brought this too. Just forget I even asked for help on this topic, I will not ask for any support for anything from this forum again.

Tom

[one shot scott]

I think I made it clear where I stand, and ya done good with making others aware Tom, but not everyone sees things the same way. Don't take it as a personal attack. Just a sharing of opinion. Others are obviously ok with paying more taxes.

[Ont_Excal]

I just hope that the people that are against me here are not the next person that gets charged for a rescue.
Tom

I'm sorry if you take this personally but I'm not against you.
I just can't support your friend when he was in the wrong, no matter how you spin it.
I also will not criticize how emergency crews were deployed.
It was dark, foggy and bad ice. Less personel may have taken much longer to locate the stranded fisherman.
Hypothermia is always a real concern especially in the elderly.

Here on Lake St. Clair and Rondeau Bay, there are always some bad spots too, because we have a lot of marsh and pumps that drain farmland all year round.
Even when fishing very shallow water, care must be taken at all times.

I'm also not okay with paying more taxes.

[rayman]

I think it's a great thread Tom. Good to air these things out. Even though I am a long way away from you guys, the topic is kind of personal to me because I count on certain emergency-oriented agencies to help me with my work. This is a relationship that has been going on for decades, and there are serious problems with availability now that were not there before because of budget cut backs which led to reductions in personel and equipment. Very important services that have been available at a reasonable cost in the past are not available now while I have also seen billions or trillions of dollars being pissed away. How is it that more money is spent but emergency budgets are cut? It also cost me $1,600 to take my son to get stitches on a saturday night while many of the people that were in the same ER had the same service available for $50. So yea, hearing about some poor guy that acted like a stupid jerk and got lost, but had to pay $5,400 for a bunch of fire engines and rescue guys to get out of the shop for a while sounds a little too familiar.