Fire!

Even with the best efforts of the multiple fire companies, sometimes house fires still occur. And last week it happened again. As is usually the case, the fire struck a home whose owners had "neglected" to sign on with a fire company. The preventative efforts of the fire companies make it almost impossible for a fire bad enough to require a house call to ever hit a home covered by their services.

Of course the fire was still extinguished quickly. The fire company which responded had customers next door to the damaged house and they didn't want to be liable for any loss to their customers. Since the affected house wasn't owned by repeat offenders (they had never had a fire before) and weren't on any ostrafer list of shunned individuals, the fire was put out and a bill for services rendered was presented at the scene. And these home owners will not face arbitration since they happily paid, and even signed up with the responding company right on the spot. Of course, they aren't covered for their current losses, since the fire company wasn't liable for preventing their fire this time, but I suppose a lesson learned late is still learned.

The last I heard they had received enough donations to replace and repair their losses a couple times over. I even pitched in an ounce for the cause.