It needs to be pointed out that this kind of tragic absurdity is the inevitable consequence of treating essential government services (such as firefighting) as if they were private enterprises.

When you require people to pay a subscription fee to protect their homes against fire, you’re creating a situation in which this kind of sickening outcome is unavoidable. How could the system possibly be enforced if the firefighters went ahead and extinguished fires in homes owned by people who hadn’t paid up?

This is a very bad road to travel, and it has consequences for society that go far beyond one house burning down.