Imagine That

Photo courtesy of: ERIC ENGMAN / Fairbanks, Alaska Daily News-Miner

"Ace and Cat Callaway stand in front of their log home as it continues to burn Thursday afternoon. Fire departments responded within minutes, but ended their service when they determined that the structure fell just outside their fire service area boundary."

Looks like the "last frontier" has finally succumbed to the predations of the ubiquitous tax man. This is said in all seriousness as we were under the impression that a spirit of "help your neighbor" obtained in frontier locations.

A Fairbanks, Alaska couple lost a home to fire Thursday because it was just outside the fire service [taxed] area and firefighters turned back from the scene [of the burning house].

Ace Callaway, the owner of the house, said officials told him his house was only 180 feet outside the area that the Steese Area Volunteer Fire Department covers, effectively putting it on the wrong side of the road. The nearest fire department is less than two miles away. Callaway says he's been paying for fire insurance for years and he assumed that the department covered a large radius.

From reading the story however, some suspicions do arise: 1) The homeowners are involved in a divorce 2) A "remodeling" was being planned and 3) Due to the planned "remodeling" a lot of their "furnishings were elsewhere". Additionally, the actions of the fire department were apparently not a complete surprise as evidenced by the final sentence of the article: "People on this side of the road are scared to death what will happen to them if their homes catch on fire,".

Could it be that your humble scribbler is too cynical due to his former career and life experience?

ht: neal boortz