This story has been making it's way around the Internet over the last week and tonight Keith Olbermann talked to the homeowner, Gene Cranick about what happened when firefighters in Tennessee watched as his house burned to the ground because he hadn't paid a $75 fire protection fee.
As Keith noted, here's a look now into the America envisioned by the "Tea Party."
And for anyone who was wondering as I was how you can help this family, Keith Olbermann posted on Twitter "For all who asked we're looking into organizing help for Gene Cranick, who lost his house to A-La-Carte Firefighting in TN. I'll advise."
Firefighters watch as home burns to the ground:
OBION COUNTY, Tenn. - Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won't respond, then watches it burn. That's exactly what happened to a local family tonight.
A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.
The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning.
Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay.
The mayor said if homeowners don't pay, they're out of luck.
This fire went on for hours because garden hoses just wouldn't put it out. It wasn't until that fire spread to a neighbor's property, that anyone would respond.
Turns out, the neighbor had paid the fee.
"I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75, but I was wrong," said Gene Cranick.
Because of that, not much is left of Cranick's house.
They called 911 several times, and initially the South Fulton Fire Department would not come.
The Cranicks told 9-1-1 they would pay firefighters, whatever the cost, to stop the fire before it spread to their house.
"When I called I told them that. My grandson had already called there and he thought that when I got here I could get something done, I couldn't," Paulette Cranick. Read on...
