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Comment by LarryMullins | Hacker News Reader

> I mean, yes, but doctors will still save your life even if you declined to buy any insurance all life long or pay taxes or whatever

So will firefighters. They'll save your life to the best of their ability, no matter any contracts, payments, taxes, etc.

Saving your house is another matter.

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Number one priority on any emergency scene. Life safety... my crew comes first, but I have taken some serious risk to save people. Once the humans and animals are safe, everything else is less concerning. Risk a lot to save a lot. Most "things" can be replaced. My crew takes great pride in saving homeowners animals these days as we now have some tools to help post smoke/heat exposure (Cyanokit and O2).

Adding a second reply with same sentiment. I am also a firefighter, and my main “assignment” over the years has been search/rescue.

We’ll always risk to reward. But more and more the phase after life saving is trending toward “surround and drown” - not that I want to fight like detroit in the 2010’s, but yes we do make a call sometimes to stop risking when lives are all confirmed safe.

Thank you (both) for your service to the community.

There’s also a point where a structure is a total loss even if the “damage doesn’t look so bad from out here” at which point letting it burn as long as other buildings aren’t in danger may be the safest thing to do.

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