Lost Paramedic and Vodka (no, they don't actually go together)

Well, until today our Ambulance Corps has had two advanced life support providers who take 95% of the calls (one a paramedic and the other what New York calls an AEMT-CC, sort of in between the national registry intermediate and the national registry paramedic). Our paramedic graduated yesterday and drove off today after giving me his corps issued medic jacket and some last minute instructions and best wishes. He took a LOT of calls for our agency, and will be sorely missed. The remaining medic is VERY ready for me to jump on board, and he still has a few days of taking things alone yet.

So, that’s the medic part. Here’s the vodka part. One of the students I’ve worked closely with over the last four years has a father who does a lot of work for the department of defense. Her dad was born in Canada, and travels a lot internationally. A running joke I have with the student is that her father is a double agent for the “commies” (note: yes, I know, I know…). I thought this joke was between the two of us, as it is beyond sophomoric. I was wrong. Her father wanted to thank me for all I’ve done for his daughter, said some very nice things to me, and then handed me a bottle in a bag, winked, and said “you are the only one to have guessed the truth!” Inside the bag was a bottle of Stolichnaya Vodka (a very good [imho] Russian Vodka). Very nice gift and fun way to let me know he was in on the joke. That or the dude is taking money from the reds...

As I sign off, a local fire department is being dispatched to an “outhouse fire”. At first I figured there was some confusion and the building on fire must be an outbuilding of some sort, but it sounds like it really is an outhouse that is on fire.

Questions:
1) Who still uses an outhouse?
2) How does it catch of fire (I assume it isn’t faulty wiring)?
3) Do you really need the fire department for this?
4) Do people have outhouse insurance? “I lost all my $#!^ in a fire” takes on a whole new meaning…