[RP TownTalk] Tonight's News.

[Sarah Wayland]

For years I've kept my mouth shut about the fire department, but I can
no longer continue to do so in good faith.

Incidents like this make me think we need to push the county to move
quickly towards making our firefighters professionals, rather than
volunteers. A few years ago, this was a definite priority for the
county; I'm not sure what has happened in the interim.

There have been countless incidents (though none this serious) where
I've heard of our firefighters behaving in an unprofessional manner.*
As a resident of the town, I want to be able to count on firefighters
(who also provide ambulance service) to behave in a professional way.
Right now, I do not feel that I can count on this.

How can we push our county to insure that we are served by
firefighters and EMTs who take their duties seriously? Our
firefighters in the Riverdale Volunteer Fire Department are not the
same caliber of people we honored after 9/11, and for us to continue
to pretend they are only discredits the honorable men and women who
*do* take their job seriously.

Just my opinion.

-Sarah Wayland

* Recently a friend needed ambulance service to take him to the
hospital (he is terminally ill.) The EMTs were making *jokes* about
his physical condition (which was quite dire) right in front of him,
as if he couldn't hear them, or perhaps didn't have feelings. I was
furious when I heard about this. Now, after this story of the teenage
boy, I can no longer keep quiet.