Your anger should not be at the FD, but at the spineless politicians who set up this system. I can smell it a mile away: pols not wanting to take responsibility for raising taxes. I have no idea what the party affiliation was, but it was a governance fail. I hope recognition of this fail is reflected in the next election.
As for the guy who lost his home, he really is an ass. As OG said, he tried to game the system, knowing full well that he was riding on the backs of others. Essentially stealing from them. Just because the system is bad doesn't excuse gaming it like a selfish rat.
Knowing firefighters a bit, I'd be surprised if they were inactive in the face of a risk to life and limb. They are generally people who sacrifice a lot for others. I feel confident in surmising that they assessed human risk before refusing to fight the fire.