911 à la Carte

Iowa fire department to charge fees

FAIRFIELD, Iowa (AP) - Residents will be charged a fee for using the Fire Department's services.

The City Council voted Monday that the service fee will be effective immediately. Previously, there was only a charge for cleaning up hazardous material spills.

Now, when the Fire Department responds to an accident and extracts someone from a vehicle, there will be a $500 charge. Responding to a vehicle fire will cost from $150 to $500.

The charge for responding to a grass fire will be up to $300. The charge for a house fire will range from $300 to $500, and a commercial building fire will range from $300 to $1,000.

Many of the fees will be covered by homeowner or vehicle insurance policies, rather than by individuals, Fire Chief Ralph Hickenbottom said.

Of course, with no increase in premium or deductible, right?

"911 Emergency."

"Yes, hello, my husband and I were in a car acci.."

"HONEY, PUT DOWN THE DAMN CELL PHONE! Are you nuts! They're gonna whack us for 500 bucks! Get over here and help me pop the steering wheel out from behind my ribcage. I've almost got it."

I saw this story last week and wasn't planning on blogging on it, but SondraK at Knowledge is Power has too perfect a tie-in to pass up.