Randy Evans said callers to the Obion Fire Department have made angry threats.

“They’ve threatened to burn the fire station. They’ve threatened to do bodily harm,” Evans said. “What have we done?”

The department took down its Facebook page because it was overwhelmed with hateful messages, according to WPSD-TV in Paducah, Ky. (http://bit.ly/uumB3Y ).

The anger was spurred by a policy of the Obion County Fire Department that prevents firefighters from dousing a fire if the homeowner has not paid a subscription for fire protection.

Evans said it was time to find a better answer to fire service funding than a so-called “pay for spray” policy that several departments, including his own, follow.

Vicky Bell said she called 911 on Monday when her mobile home caught fire.

“You could look out my mom’s trailer and see the (fire) trucks sitting at a distance,” Bell said.

Bell and her husband lost all of their possessions.

Rural residents of the county can get fire protection by paying a $75 fee. South Fulton offers the fee-based protection. Mayor David Crocker said there would be no incentive to pay the fee if firefighters responded anyway.

Evans said “pay for spray” needs to end.

“We plead with the county court to turn our hands loose, work with us, give us the opportunity to serve Obion County,” Evans said.

Not responding to a house fire doesn’t sit well with firefighters, either.

“Anyone that answers a fire call, it’s not a good feeling. What do you say?” asked Evans, who wants county officials to let voters choose whether to institute a tax increase to fund fire protection.

Evans said in the last year 70 percent of his department’s fires occurred in the rural area, while only a small portion of their funding comes from the rural subscriptions.