LIBERTARIAN FIREMEN? A Tennessee township offers its neighbors living in unincorporated sections the opportunity to buy an annual subscription of fire protection. One such neighbor chose not to buy a subscription. Then he had a fire, and the fire department eventually came to ensure that the fire would not spread to his neighbor's property. Econ Log's David Henderson notes the fire department that prevented the fire from spreading was a government enterprise.

You would think at some price, the fire department would show up. After all, a private for-profit fire company could make some good money doing so and, by charging high enough, could limit the incentive for people not to pay in advance for protection. Rural/Metro in Arizona is the example we libertarians often point to of a company that charges a fee. I remember reading, although I can't find the source, that if someone didn't subscribe and his house is burning down, Rural/Metro will show up and charge a fee that is a high multiple of the annual fee.

It turns out, though, that the fire department in Tennessee was not a private for-profit fire department. It was a government-run fire department. You read that right: the fire department that refused to show up and refused to name a price at which it would show up was run by the government of South Fulton.

The government-run fire department, standing on principle, refused to accept a side payment from the unfortunate householder, who offered to cover the fire department's expenses in limiting his fire to his shed. Presumably, it has a monopoly on selling fire protection to its neighbors. I'm imagining a new sales pitch from the township government. "Nice shack y'all got hereabouts. God forbid something should happen to it."