Sounds like Crassius, the richest and most hated man in Rome. He made his money with a private fire department. His people would arrive at the scene and sit on their hands until the owner paid up; if they didn't he bought the ruins for back taxes and rebuilt. Of course, the public servants in this case refused to take the payment. Pour encourager les autres. Well, Crassius (ever wonder where the word "crass" came from?) got his - he got so rich he became one of the three "trimumvirs" ruling Rome along with Pompey and Caesar. Of course, as Richard Armour said, a Trimumvir is junta of three where two immediately start start talking trash about the third. Crass decided he needed a vacation surrounded by an army so he went to kick some Parthian butt. As the story goes, the Parthians ended up pouring molten gold down his throat since he liked it so much. Something symbolically similar may happen to the Mayor/Fire chief in TN.
Pls ignore reference to Olbermann - he doesn't have the chance to screw up the story.