rangerjim93
04-01-2008, 02:11 PM
I am very pleased that the Buffalo,NY firefighters are getting well-deserved but overdue pay raises and it is about time,too. While I am not affiliated with this fine department, what gets me is why Buffalo's Bravest have been getting treated with contempt by the Control Board and City Hall for so long. That it took more than 2800 injuries and 3 Line of Duty deaths is totally inexcusable. Next time Buffalo and other cities in this state find themselves in dire financial straits, guess who the favorite whipping boy of the politicians is going to be? THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, that's who. Volunteer departments like mine are not immune to getting the shaft by government officials either. We have a 1977 American LaFrance pumper truck, for which parts are no longer available next up for replacement and that we have to fight like hell for even a refurbished rig for our active guys shows the effects of public and leaders' apathy toward the hometown fire department, if not hostility. What's it going to take for the fools in charge of municipal government and the community at large to realize that the hometown fire department deserves community support just as much as a school board that spends money like a drunken sailor such as Perry,NY's does. I may not be frontline personnel, but have a support role, but in my five years with my department, which may seem like nothing to a lot of you fine people who have many,many more than that in, but I have only missed two departmental meetings in those five years. If that's not dependability, I am not sure what is. Though my role is a support role, I am just as proud to be part of something as noble as the hometown volunteer fire department.