Dear Editor,
Re: “All in for firefighters,” Letters, Nov. 8
Rohit claims that the backbone of our city consists of firemen, nurses, and police officers. Forgetting one service that is still not considered essential. When dialing 911, an individual gets a choice of police, fire or ambulance. Everyone is constantly forgetting about our paramedics.
I’m against the increase in tax for firefighters as there has been a decrease in structure fires or any fire-related accidents due to building codes being stricter and new cars being safer. I would accept a tax increase to help paramedics, though.
We have numerous fire halls in Richmond which allow for firefighters to respond promptly to any medical emergency, and this is why they often arrive before an ambulance. We only have two ambulance stations in Richmond. We should be increasing funding for paramedics so that they are able to arrive quicker than firefighters in a medical emergency. This would be of utmost importance as firefighters do not transport any individuals to the hospital.
With the rising age in the population, I believe that more paramedic funding would be more beneficial than more firefighter funding.
Timothy Jay
RICHMOND
