Language Barriers and Santa Ana Fire Tragedy

It saddened my heart to read about the 5-year-old boy who died in a recent Santa Ana house fire. His mother, a Spanish-speaking woman with limited English skills, claimed that firefighters ignored her pleas to save her son.

It was believed that what exacerbated the situation and added to the confusion was the fact that the victims all spoke Spanish (“Language a Barrier to Rescuers,” Jan. 17).

To quote Rene Lopez, who won a major civil rights victory in a federal class action lawsuit against the Santa Ana fire and police departments more than 16 years ago, “it would be a sad thing indeed if this young boy died because someone didn’t understand the mother.” Before putting blame on our firefighters, however, we should consider the purpose of their occupation. No doubt that bilingual skills would definitely be an asset, but isn’t their first priority to put out fires and save lives?

I would think that if, in fact, there was a language barrier, we should take it upon ourselves to learn the mother language and not vice-versa. After all, we are in America, and as the Romans used to say, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

JEANNIE WONG

Orange