Ethics: Should firefighters respond even if the owner hasn’t paid his fee?

In Tennessee two weeks ago, a distraught rural homeowner called the fire department to come out to his property and was promptly told that he had not paid his annual $75 fee and so the firemen would not be coming. He offered to pay whatever fee they named, but they refused. Over the course of the next two hours, the fire spread and the owner kept calling. Eventually, the firemen came only to watch the fire consume his home and eventually step in when it spread to a neighboring vacant field whose owner had paid. Who is responsible in this case, and did the firemen or the city manager (who defended the decision) do anything wrong here? Are firemen obligated to stop fires even for people who haven’t paid?

Links:
Firefighters let home burn (MSNBC)
Why firemen let that house burn down (NYT)
TN firefighters watch home burn (with video) (NYT)
Glenn Beck on the fire (Examiner)
Is this event crazy capitalism? (CSM)