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Over time, the fire protection trends in our nation moved away from the concept of having insurance companies provide our fire protection. However, did you know that as recently as a couple of years ago, the insurance industry in New York City still provided a Fire Patrol to assist the New York City Fire Department in the salvage and overhaul duties of their operations in the mercantile districts of lower Manhattan? They were taken out of service just a short time ago. Never lose sight of the fact that one member of the Fire Patrol, Keith Roma, was killed along with the 343 members of the New York Department on 9/11.

At some point in history, we became accustomed to having a volunteer organization, or some form of government provide our communities with fire protection and suppression services. There really is no definitive point in time at which I can point to say it all started there. Perhaps it is because of the many different ways in which fire protection evolved in America that I really cannot set up a series of solid points of reference.

However, let me suggest to you that all of these various means of providing fire protection had one major thing in common. Dedicated people came together to protect their communities from the devastation, disruption, and destruction which fire can visit upon a community. I really believe that fire protection is a bit too important to be provided to communities in the 21st Century in a manner seemingly more appropriately designed for subscribing to a magazine or a newspaper.

What I can never countenance is the thought of firefighters standing around doing nothing. I am offended that people such as these are allowed to wear the same gear and be looked upon as members of the same fire service as my fellow firefighters in Adelphia and Newark, NJ. I worry that people will think that we are all like those people who only sprung into action when the fire jumped to the home of someone who paid their subscription fee.

Let me also tell you another person who really angered me with the stupidity of their interview comments. He is Jeff Vowell, the city manager for South Fulton, TN. In defense of the actions of his fire department, he stated that, "...we have to follow the rules and the ordinances set forth to us, and that's exactly what we do." According to press reports, this process has been in effect for more than 20 years in South Fulton.

Do not think that you or I will get any support from the organizations which represent various levels of government in our nation. A great example of this comes from Jacqueline Byers with the National Association of Counties. In an article on ABC News.com she states that, "If the city starts fighting fires in the homes of people outside the city who don't pay, why would anyone pay?" Talk about a govern-style bean counter.

My friends, it is all about money. All I hear in my community is a hue and cry for lower taxes. But when asked if they want more services, people can always be counted upon to say, "...heck yes..." It just doesn't work that way. If you want, you pay. If I want gasoline for my car, I pay the guy at the gas station. If I want to fly to Indianapolis for the Fire Department Instructor's Conference, I pay Continental Airlines, and the list goes on and on.

It is really simple. If you want fire protection, you pay for it. You pay taxes, you attend roast beef dinners or pancake breakfasts; or you buy a Christmas tree from that group of guys and gals out there in the cold December weather. Let me assure you, however, that the days of providing fire protection with pancakes and potluck suppers is long past.

Ladies and gentlemen, my fire district is buying a new pumper and we are about to lay out $602,000 for it. How many pancake meals do you have to sell at $7 per person to buy such a vehicle? I did the math gang and it comes to 86,000 people buying one meal each. Our whole township only has 60,000 people and most of them do not come to us for breakfast at our twice-a-year event.

There is another question which might be asked. Do we need a new pumper? You bet your ass we do. I was not the one who invited the people who live in the 3,000-plus units of housing which were built within one mile of my 125-year-old home to come to Fire District #2 in Howell Township, NJ. However, I am chairman of the board of that same district and we have been given the responsibility by the voters of the area to do just that. So we do.

Time and again I keep hearing the phrase, "tax-strapped taxpayers." Heck, I pay taxes and probably a lot more than those people do down in Tennessee. I pay nearly $6,000 in property taxes and thank my lucky stars that I am paying a lot less than many of my buddies in the Adelphia Fire Company. What good is government if it fails to fulfill the sole reason for its existence? What is that sole reason for government's existence, you might ask? Plain and simple my friends, government exists to serve the people, but it cannot do the job without money.

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People have to make some serious decisions about their local fire departments. Far too many cities, towns, townships, villages, cities, and fire districts are nickel and diming their fire departments out of existence. Fire departments have been subject to severe cuts by unknowing and uncaring pencil-necked geek business administrators that are rendering them unable to provide even the most basic services which the public has come to expect.

I have written about the problems of Lawrence, MA, Keokuk, IA, and an unknown number of other fire departments where the decisions of people who can't tell a fire truck from a cement mixer are making decisions which put their communities at risk. People had best wake up.

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Let me suggest that the debacle in Tennessee is just the latest in a growing list of mistakes which are happening because of the fact that citizens in America want more service, but are unwilling to pay more in taxes for it. Somebody had best "man up" on this issue, or we are going to see more buildings burn to the ground in places with understaffed and improperly funded fire departments.

Let me suggest that these are just a couple of thoughts from a guy who has been to a fire or two. And by the way, I am on the side of those who believe that the citizen deserves the best fire protection possible: Not just what the cheapskates, bean-counters, and pencil-necked geeks think we should have. We need to devote some solid research into how best to fund fire departments in this dumb-assed economic climate we all hear so much about. I'm just saying..."

HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D., CFO, MIFireE, a Firehouse.com Contributing Editor, is a municipal fire protection consultant based in Adelphia, NJ. Dr. Carter retired from the Newark, NJ, Fire Department and is a past chief and active life member of the Adelphia Fire Company. Follow Harry on his "A View From my Front Porch" blog. He recently published Leadership: A View from the Trenches and Living My Dream: Dr. Harry Carter's 2006 FIRE Act Road Trip. You can reach Harry by e-mail at drharrycarter@optonline.net.

It came in the mail less than a month after Darline Fairchild watched her family's home go up in flames -- a bill for the nearly $28,000 it cost the fire department to extinguish the blaze.

"I felt my body turn cold and I just broke out into a sweat," Fairchild told ABCNews.com. "It was awful. I said, 'It's got to be a mistake.'"

But it wasn't a mistake. The Fairchilds, of New Castle, Ind., were just one of a growing number of fire and accident victims across the country who are being billed for fire department services once funded solely through taxpayer money.

Already banned in several states, the practice of charging to respond to house fires and car accidents -- dubbed a "crash tax" or an "accident tax" -- has horrified victims and earned the ire of insurance lobbyists who say their member companies are being targeted to make up for budget shortfalls.

"Part of the sales tactic when municipalities consider this is, 'Hey, don't worry, it's going to go to insurance,'" Jon Zarich, director of government affairs for the Insurance Institute of Indiana, told ABCNews.com. "But it's the homeowner that's responsible once coverage runs out."

The Fairchilds' bill for $27,989.12 was itemized with hourly rates for the use of fire trucks, hoses and the firefighters' time, even a case of drinking water for firefighters who got thirsty. The total for five hours of fire personnel on the scene totaled more than $8,500. The use of the fire trucks cost more than $12,300.