How does this sound for coverage from your fire department? Pay as needed. An ordinance proposed by the Bellevue City Council has fired off a controversy.

A lot has changed for Sen. Abbie Cornett of Bellevue in a year. Her family's new home helps them forget that night. “It was the most horrible experience of our lives. We walked away with virtually nothing."

A fire destroyed the Cornett home, leaving the family to start over. After a call to 911, the Bellevue Volunteer Fire Department rolled out its standard fire response team, something Abbie never thought twice about it until Wednesday.

“People should not be afraid of the repercussions of picking up the phone and calling 911.”

The Bellevue City Council is considering a new ordinance that would make fire and rescue services a-la-carte. If passed, residents would have to pay a fee for each response unit.

Bellevue Fire Department president David Syzmanski says this is a bad idea. “A person, from burning food on the stove setting off the apartment complex fire alarm, would be settled with a bill for several thousand dollars just because we responded."

If that happened to you, here's the standard response you could expect. "Two pumpers, an aerial, utility truck, command vehicle and one or more rescue squad,” says Syzmanski.

An expensive meal made worse only by the fact that it burned.

Residents like Mary Price say in an emergency they would call 911 no matter what the price. “I don't think it would make a difference to me, I would call 911.”

Others worry about the chilling effect additional fees may have on people calling 911. Sen. Cornett agrees and says people will always call in obvious emergencies like the one she found herself in, but in close calls, people should think twice.

Channel 6 News spoke to Bellevue's mayor Wednesday evening. He says this is just one option the city is considering and that there will be an opportunity for public input on March 10th.

He says if passed, these additional fees could be absorbed by a resident's insurance. The fire department says that could also lead to increased insurance rates.