The guy offered to pay the $75 on the spot.
>
> The fire chief refused.
And rightly so. The $75 was for the potential need.
Now he has a bonafide need.
When dealing with government and society, you need to think on the society scale, not individual (the needs of the many outweight the needs of the few  ). If you can pay on the spot... who would pay in advance? And then only people in need would pay... so the fee would have to go from $75 to something like $50,000 or more (how expensive is the annual fire service maintencance budget divided by how many fires they put out).
On a society level, it was right to let his house burn, so others don't follow in his lead and withhold their payment until the need arises.
Maybe they could have offered him an infalted emergency-need fee, however... like $20,000 or something... on a per-fire basis still not enough to properly fund the service, but enough to deter future free-loafers, and still a savings compared to replacing his house and all it's contents.
I bet this guy will also have a battle with his home insurance co. They'll want to know why he didn't have fire service, which I bet is a requirement for his plan. He may be out enturely, even if he HAD a plan.
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). If you can pay on the spot... who would pay in advance? And then only people in need would pay... so the fee would have to go from $75 to something like $50,000 or more (how expensive is the annual fire service maintencance budget divided by how many fires they put out).
