[turtledragonfly]

I can't speak for the person you replied to, but I don't think the quote you provided really invalidates the point.

Maybe you two are talking past each other. One way to phrase the core question is: "did fire companies let competitors' buildings burn, regularly, as standard practice?" And I think the evidence in the article pretty strongly indicates "No." I think that's what you're referring to.

Another way to phrase the core question is: "Did it ever happen, at various points in history, that fire companies let competitors' buildings burn?" And I think the article indicates that it very well may have. And the possibility was absolutely used as a threat, even if it never actually came to pass.

I feel like even a handful of such incidents would have been so terrible as to get etched into social memory and passed on, and I think that's the sort of thing the person you are replying to was referring to.

So... I think you're both right (: