By Angela Hatton
South Fulton, TN – City officials in South Fulton stand by a decision to allow a mobile home burn to the ground. Firefighters in the far western Tennessee city did not respond to the call because owner Gene Cranick didn't pay an annual $75 fire protection fee. Cranick's doublewide home is outside city limits. But South Fulton offers fire protection to nearby residents for a fee and once the fire threatened to spread, the department did protect a neighboring house that had paid. South Fulton Mayor David Crocker tells the Union City Daily Messenger if the city allowed people to pay after the fact there would be no incentive to subscribe. Cranick's wife Paulette tells KFVS-TV the fire department had responded to a fire two years ago at her son's house. At the time he had not paid the subscription fee.