A Letter-to-the Editor:
The Fire Fighter’s Names Were Removed Due to Upper Management’s History of Reprisals
♦ After the tragic deaths of fire fighters Victor Isler and Justin Monroe on March 7, 2008, Fire Chief Bob Parnell saw the importance of having as many trained fire fighters as possible on each fire truck. Prior to this deadly fire, the Fire Chief’s standard operating procedures required that a pickup truck staffed with only 2 fire fighters be the main apparatus to respond to medical emergencies for the entire City. This apparatus was called the Squad and is often manned by the 2 most junior members of the department.
After March 7, 2008, Chief Parnell changed standard operations by taking the Squad out of service and allowing all fire fighters to be on a fire truck. This decision took the level of safety the Salisbury Fire Department could provide to a whole new level for 2 reasons. First: Having 4 fire fighters on each truck allowed each crew to attack a fire more quickly and increased our ability to rescue trapped citizens. Second: Just as important, each fire apparatus now answered the medical calls in their own district. This means the closest trained help was sent to your aid. This allowed trained EMTs to provide life-saving medical treatment to the public when their life was on the line. But now, sadly, the fire department is not operating this way. Due to budget cuts by the, the city manager and the fire chief are ok with placing the public in danger once again.
The safety of the citizens of Salisbury is now at far greater risk now as safety and life saving city services are cut due to Salisbury’s grave financial crisis.
The Squad has returned to service once again to save money due to the lower fire department budget. But did your taxes drop as well? Not hardly. Your tax dollar is now buying your family far less city services than before.
So how does the squad affect you? It’s simple, the Squad responds to all calls from 2325 S. Main St., Fire Station #2. This means it could take the Salisbury Fire Department as long as 13 minutes to respond to your call for help. That’s 13 minutes when your child is stricken, or 13 minutes when your loved one has fallen. What if this 13 minutes lag time occurs when a heart stops beating. Shouldn’t the fire truck closest to you respond to your call for help and isn’t 1 life worth more than this? After all, isn’t that what your tax dollar should pay for, peace of mind and your family’s safety not questionable Fibrant services?
Placing the Squad back in service also means that 4 out of the 5 fire trucks in the City of Salisbury now only have 3 fire fighters on it instead of 4 to serve you. The Johns Hopkins’ Study reflects the fact that firefighters’ injuries are significantly influenced by inadequate staffing. Why is it important to have 4 firefighters on each fire truck? Simply put, when a fire occurs a certain amount of realities exist. Those realities are that a lot of work must be done and it must start as soon as the fire truck arrives on the scene of a fire. If this work cannot be completed fast, citizens may perish and fire fighters may be lost as well. But, this must be the reality that the City Manager and Fire Chief are ok with. Are you ok with this danger citizens of Salisbury? Is your family worth standing up for?
You can make a difference and change the dangerous and thoughtless choices of this city’s administration. You must act with speed because your life and the lives of fire fighters are in danger. Let City Council know about our understaffing and the cutbacks!
