I'd say it has nothing to with lattitude, but rural attitude. The further out you are, the more familiar you are with the idea of "it's thee, thyself and thou for at least half an hour if something goes wrong".

What I'm about to say is not ment as a slight to anyone on a paying agency, but I've observed that places that have volunteer firefighters and rescue squads are the places where people are going to better when the stuff hits the fan. They form a cadre, and everyone knows someone on those agencies, so you know that as bad off as you are there are people doing more. So you just shut up and do.

These types of agencies are also universally rural, so people are used to thinking in terms of picking up a gallon of milk being a half hour under good conditions. And you don't always have the right part available to you when something breaks, so you take what is there and figure out how to make it work becuase you need the equipment online now or you'll be in the poor house by the time the right part gets shipped in.

Or maybe I'm right about on the 44N line, and I'm just annoyed by someone who's never seen how people in Northern New England react to bad luck. Sure, we'll ask for help if we have to, but we start working at the same time.