Fire Crews Foot Bill for Rig’s Extras

A June 2 letter to the Valley Edition by Kathy Kirkland takes issue with the gold leafing and pinstriping of fire apparatuses. I am a 16-year veteran of the fire service, and one of Kirkland’s statements particularly hit home with me: “If, by chance, some art patrons pay for this from their own pockets, will someone please give them a list of a thousand ways to better contribute to humanity.”

First, the issue of who pays: I can assure the letter writer and all other taxpayers that pinstriping and gold leafing are paid for not by the city or county but by the proud engineers, firefighters, paramedics and captains assigned to a particular rig. We also pay out of our pockets to have plain, dull, brass chrome-plated and to have wheels polished. We pay for paint, tools and lumber, not only to make the rig look better but also to make it more functional, easier to maintain and more dependable. These things equate directly to the level of service we provide. I invite Kirkland to visit her local fire station and talk with the firefighters. I’m sure she would be shocked at the amount of work it takes, daily, to keep these $500,000-plus rigs rolling each time a call for help comes in.

She would also learn that some of the tools carried on the rigs, tools used to save lives and property, are bought and paid for by firefighters. Slim Jim sets used to safely unlock car doors and tools used to open stuck elevators are just two examples.

Perhaps even more important, she would understand that special programs--such as Urban Search and Rescue Teams, Swiftwater Rescue Teams and others like them--exist only because firefighters spend thousands of dollars out of pocket and weeks away from home to acquire the training.

I take particular issue when Kirkland suggests, “will someone please give them a list of a thousand ways to better contribute to humanity.” The writer obviously does not know the thousands of firefighters who hold raffles, chili cook-offs and dances; who attend walkathons; who give money and time to such causes as children’s burn foundations and burn camps, or who care for foster children or needy people in the community. In this respect, there is nothing unique about the fire service. People everywhere do these things, and I am not asking for special recognition. It’s not fanfare and back-patting that motivate us. Rather it is the feeling that we’ve done something good to make life better, or at least a taste easier, for someone else.

It used to be that when a new firefighting rig arrived in a community it was cause for celebration. Picnics and dances were held in its honor and people knew they could sleep safer because of its presence. People were proud of the firefighters, and they were proud of the rig. They wanted it to be dependable, and they wanted it to look good. I believe people are the same today. They take pride in that rig, and they expect it to show that it is being taken care of.

Firefighters have three things in common: The badge we wear, the pride we take in the service we provide and the pride we take in these rigs. The rig is the tool of our trade. It’s what gets us to the scene of disasters, allows us to save others and is at times a safe haven to us. Our lives--and yours--depend on that rig.

I will continue to spend money out of my pocket to further my training and education to better serve the community. And I’ll continue to spend it on “frivolous” tools, equipment and nonhumanitarian niceties such as pinstripes. The public expects it; the public deserves it.