Volunteer Firefighter Defends Ocean View Fire Company

To the Editor:
I am a volunteer firefighter that happens to live in fire district no. 1. I have recently moved into the district so I do not know all the facts about the problems that the Ocean View company is going through, but as a fellow volunteer from a mutual aid company I would just like to speak about a couple topics that were mentioned at the meeting Nov. 13.
The first thing I would like to talk about is the comments made about firefighters driving the fire trucks around when not dispatched to a call. What ordinary people see as pointless driving and a waste of fuel we see as training. Every time that driver is behind the wheel he/she is perfecting his/her judgment of the truck. As we were told when we were all young, practice makes perfect. You cannot expect these men and women to drive that truck once a month or less and be proficient at it. Personally, I like to drive as much as I can, because at 3 a.m. when my pager calls me to leave my comfortable bed to come help someone, I want to know that I can get myself and the seven other men/women in the truck to the scene safely. So you do not want us to drive the trucks as much and to that I ask this question, would you rather pay for a few gallons of fuel or a new $400,000 fire truck because it was wrecked? When the driver is behind the wheel of that truck he/she has fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, sisters and brothers in the cab with them, he/she needs to know what he/she is doing to make sure they stay safe and get back home. If you ask me, a couple gallons of fuel is worth it.
Now lets talk about those people that complain about the siren and air horn at night. I know that their biggest argument is that there’s no one on the road at 3 a.m. That may be what it looks like from the comfort of your room but that might not be the case in the front seat of that truck. We don’t know what is around every corner, if there is a car, or even someone walking. We don’t know when someone is about to blow a stop sign or red light because they don’t see or hear us. We apologize for waking you for a brief moment in the night while we are out there putting our lives on the line to help people we don’t even know. Sounds a little selfish, don’t you think?
Don’t get me wrong, I think there is always room for more professionalism in a volunteer house, but do not attack firefighters that are willing to give their life for yours if asked of them. Don’t complain when we wake you at night, instead maybe take the time to say a prayer for us to get back to our loved ones safe. To have people in the community bad mouth us when we are so willing to help people is incredibly demeaning and disrespectful. Next time you hear a siren at 3 a.m., just think about someone else for a change. Remember, we run into burning buildings when you are running out.