> Is one typically billed when you have the fire department arrive? I thought it was a public good. It's complicated. Unincorporated areas will often (dependin

> Is one typically billed when you have the fire department arrive? I thought it was a public good. It's complicated. Unincorporated areas will often (depending on the state) leave firefighting to nearby municipalities, which will generally charge a periodic fee for coverage and bill property owners who do not pay the fee if/when they respond. Even some municipal corporations (e.g. towns, etc) do the same thing, though generally only in quite rural areas. My impression is that it's generally pragmatic rather than ideological: most of us live in densely populated areas, but (in the US), most space is very sparsely populated.