Raw video: Neighboring chief speaks out about fire service in Obion County, Tennessee. Bob Reavis says firefighters have been trying to ditch the subscription fees, but the county wants more of them.

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“No firefighter wants to standby and watch a neighbor’s house burn, but we are sometimes put in this predicament through the subscription response program.” The words of Hornbeak Chief Bob Reavis. Hornbeak is one of eight municipal departments providing fire protection to Obion County. Chief Reavis has one of the five departments that doesn’t require subscriptions to respond into the county. But he says county policy of failing to properly address this issue is pushing his department and the others into joining South Fulton in requiring these subscriptions.

Reavis says a comprehensive plan was presented two years ago by the chiefs to eliminate subscription response and replace it with tax or fee based funding that would provide “rural fire protection to all residents”.  The chief says the county sent it back wanting to instead expand the subscription program.

The entire press conference, including questions from Todd Cranick whose parents’ home burned a week ago, is above. Below is the answer from Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire. Despite a lot of threats and a great deal of pressure, McGuire still wants to expand the same subscription service that created this controversy to the entire county, something Bob Reavis and the other chiefs are against. 

Reavis does want county residents to stand up and be heard, “The people have to understand that houses are going to burn. It’s not what we want.”

Excerpts from WPSD-TV’s article:

“The same thing has happened in the county before,” said Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire. “It never got this much attention.”

He doesn’t understand why his county’s policy is under fire.

Under the current system, there is no county-wide fire protection.

The mayor said that policy might soon change if county leaders vote yes on a new plan, which gives everyone an opportunity to buy subscription service from the nearest fire department.

“It’s not what I want, not what my fire department wants, not what my town wants,” Chief Bob Reavis said.

Reavis’ plea certainly resonated with some in the audience, perhaps most especially Todd Cranick, whose parents burnt out home is at the center of the controversy.

“The country is fed up with this crap and it’s about time everybody pulled together and gets things changed,” Cranick said.