LEVY: Failure isn't good news
After reading Peter Ward’s letter May 23, “LEVY: Voters deserve applause,” I have to respond. Mr. Ward gloats at the Fire Levy failure. He wants an all voluntary fire department, is against any pay for them and against a modernized fire department.
As a retired firefighter with 30 years of service, serving in all ranks including paramedic for 10 years and Chief Officer for the last 17 years with a bachelor’s degree in fire protection and administration and a State of California Chief Officer Certification, I would like to present some facts.
The fire service is one of the most complex and dangerous jobs in this country; it is rated No. 1 as the most stressful. Every rank is a specialty. Personnel must be trained and stay certified to maintain proficiency in their job assignment. There are many hours of training and studying for each position. Every type of emergency and every tool and equipment must be frequently trained on, some daily and some yearly to maintain certification and proficiency. It is extremely difficult even for full-time firefighters to maintain all of the required education and training each year. It takes years responding to actual emergencies to actually gain the expertise required to be proficient in this occupation.
Also, all firefighters are Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT). Some firefighters are paramedics and specially trained for advanced medical care. There are many different emergencies firefighters are called for as well as many non emergencies which I cannot list in entirety in this article.
The Coeur d’Alene, Northern Lakes and Kootenai County Fire departments have very dedicated personnel and work extremely hard keeping all of us safe. They all could use help with adequate staffing, fire stations, modern fire trucks and equipment, especially the Northern Lakes and Kootenai County departments.
Mr. Ward, what you want is someone to work full time, support their family, (which some work more than one job to make ends meet) and then dedicate their time off working as firefighters, and at the same time, staying current on all potential emergencies and equipment and if needed, respond to all emergencies.
The volunteers working for Kootenai and Northern Lakes are excellent and very dedicated members of our community and deserve all of our support. They also need to earn a proper living.
North Idaho is a fast growing community with fire and rescue calls increasing each year. We need to move into the 21st century and support our safety services. We are no longer a small town of 300-500 people. The 2010 Census shows Kootenai County with a population of more than 138,000 and covering 1,244 square miles. Let’s not wait until there is a major emergency and not have the personnel and equipment to handle it. For instance, a forest fire in this area would be disastrous especially if a lack of resources and equipment prevented a quick knock-down while the fire was small and therefore, burn our beautiful forest and homes around Coeur d’Alene or Hayden Lake, or even in Mr. Ward’s home area, Spirit Lake.
I would like to see the Fire Department properly staffed to immediately respond to calls with physically fit and trained personnel with updated equipment within 5-10 minutes to any location. Time is crucial during an emergency.
As far as the levy failing, I would ask the Fire Commissioners and the Fire Chief to bring it back for the November General Election as there will be many more people showing up to vote in this election.
Finally Mr. Ward, why do you only want firefighters to volunteer their time and work for free? Why not petition for doctors and nurses to volunteer in our local emergency department? Wow, that would save lots of money on our tax bill! What about school teachers? They should all work for free, again saving on our property taxes. And there many other city and county employees who could be working for free and really saving all of us poor taxpayers tons of money. Mr. Ward, why are you just against firefighters earning a living and performing their duties as safely as possible?
I ask everyone to move into the 21st Century and support our dedicated firefighters and law enforcement and allow them to grow as our population has and will continue to grow.
The next emergency call may be for you and/or your family.
MARIO GAGNON
Hayden Lake
Retired Fire Battalion Chief