It is not hard to support the fire department

            Over the past several months, I have again taken on the task of keeping the town of Landaff’s website updated.  The task has included posting minutes of both the selectmen’s meetings and the fire services committee meetings.  It has been an eye opening experience, to say the least.

            According to the minutes, I can see that Michael Ransmeier takes every opportunity to lay the smack down when it comes to the fire department.  He does this all while touting his open communication with the department.  When the department used a Lisbon fire hydrant to train two firemen on the Fourth of July on how to dress a hydrant, Mike said that actions like that make it hard to support the fire department.

            Really, Mike?  It is hard to support the department because they did that? Let me tell you about one firefighter in town.  This guy has been on the department for 30 years.  He has spent hundreds of hours training and in classes to continue being a firefighter.  He has spent hours helping people in Landaff and surrounding towns at accident scenes, chimney fires, brush fires, flooding, carbon monoxide incidents, wires down, clearing storm damage, and even the occasional structure fire. He has left family events and work for fire calls.  He has gotten up in the middle of the night and stayed up all night. Did I mention that they get no payment whatsoever?

            This firefighter also works on Old Home Day every year.  The preparation for this event is at least 100 hours of time.  He does the advertising, distributing of posters, contacting people to get all the details correct, arranging to pick up items, and after it is all over he makes several trips to the dump to get rid of many of the things that people gave the fire department because they didn’t want to pay to have items brought to the dump.  This firefighter also hears complaints that the department bought burgers and chips to have a cookout after Old Home Day to thank everyone who helped make the day a success.

            This firefighter gets told that the fire department isn’t trustworthy, that they are stupid (for real), and that they are hated.  Some of the same people ask why they can’t get more people to be firemen.  You might say we aren’t talking about the same firefighter as you are.  It does not matter.  Any volunteer in the department is doing training and going to meetings and going to incidents. It should not be hard to see that they are doing something that you don’t want to do.  It should not be hard to respect them. It should not be hard to support them.