Member-only story
My Friend’s Collector Car is Burning Up in His Garage — And I Called the Fire Department.
Great! But when the fire trucks arrive, they can do little because the nearest fire hydrant is a mile away! Your friend’s car is destroyed as the garage burns to the ground.
Turns out, when you and your friend built your homes and attendant garages, the town approached you and told you since you were on unincorporated land, you would have to share the cost of installing the hydrant. While that cost was not cheap, compared to the cost of your home and garage, it was not that hefty. However, you and your friend decided that the chance of a fire was small, so you’d chance it.
So here you are, looking at the ashes of your friend’s car, and what do you do? You have three choices: pay your portion of the costs to have a fire hydrant close by; park your car outside the garage; or leave it in the garage and buy a bigger fire extinguisher. With the chips down, you consider the options, and buy a bigger fire extinguisher. After all, the cost of the hydrant is big, the car will get dusty, rained on and sun damaged, but the fire extinguisher is cheap and quick.
Six months later, you still haven’t gotten around to buying the fire extinguisher, but you’ve talked about the fire, your plans for securing your car against fire, and complained about the fire…
