"DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- Authorities in Dartmouth, Mass., say a couple trying to beat the high cost of gasoline accidentally caused a fire."The headlines like the one above could be happening a lot more frequently this winter. High energy prices are causing a major crisis for a lot of families. This winter fuel prices are likely to be even worse. People are more likely to try to stay warm with home made devices, hastily and improperly installed, causing an increase in fire danger in our community.
The call force for the town has dropped to a dangerously low level after Selectmen cut their pay retroactively last year. Now the Town Selectmen are suggesting major cuts to the Fire Department in this new budget. The Finance Board is suggesting even more. Until the call force is built back up again, I’m suggesting that the town limit the amount cut to the amount recommended by the selectmen. That would give us a little time to rebuild the call force and ensure the town has adequate fire protection. Please let our selectmen know that public safety is crucial for our community.
If you find yourself downtown, why not stop by and chat with the Firemen or send them a quick note on here. They could use some support. They have been getting some pretty unfair, even ridiculous criticism lately. Let’s not let the debate over town budgets get personal with them.
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We have the ONLY fire department of our size in the county. We have one of the biggest fire departments per capita in Maine. Our full time department hasn't changed much since we had a population of 12,000. The previous Fire Chief created policies that caused the decline in the call force. It was he who decided to reduce the call force pay. The selectmen have faught to get the fire department to increase its call force. I am told that under the current chief we are seeing some positive changes. Until we are back to full speed, we always have Mexico to back us up.
The town of Mexico has already been upset about how much they have had to respond to Rumford. It has cost Mexico a lot of money and overspent their Fire Department’s budget. We need to rely on ourselves to provide fire coverage for our town, not Mexico.
The previous chief worked hard to provide a high quality, well trained fire service for this town. I believe he left mostly because he was tired of dealing with attacks from community members that wanted to cut the budget and because he realized what the decreases to the budget was going to do to his department. You only beat your head against the wall for so long before you stop.
It’s very simple JC, no one is running off the call force it is the training requirements that dampen the willingness to dedicate that amount of time. There where no policies written to drive off the call force. Here is a quick history on the call force nation wide. For many years nation wide the people who volunteered lived and worked in the same town. When the fire bells went off they where allowed to leave their job and respond to take care of their community and there employer accepted that. Now people work further away most likely in another town or even county and cannot make that commitment. After they get done driving an hour or two each way to work they want to spend time with their family not go to training for hours. When it comes to the weekend they have things to do, it is not just a problem in Rumford it is a problem nation wide and you can find a endless amount of info about it on the web. I know Mexico has a bigger call force, Mexico is the exception to this problem, not the standard.
That retro-active pay cut for the call force didn't dampen the willingness? The taking away of money that the call force had already earned? If the selectmen were really fighting for the call force, then that retro-active pay cut would never have happened. They do, after all, set the budget, right?
I watched the annual town meeting on TV the other night and have been bothered ever since. Does being mediator give one the right to yell at and berate people who get up to speak? I feel the RFD was especially targeted and are owed an apology. We need an impartial mediator who behaves professionally. It's intimidating enough for most people to get up and speak in public without also having to worry about being upbraided by the mediator.
I just thought I'd say that for those people who voted against the fire department its going to be them that are regreting doing so when there house or there family members house that is on fire and there isnt enough manpower to respond to the call
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