I just want to clear up a few misconceptions from the July 31 article “Town, fire dept. move forward with chief” on page 1 of the Mountain View Gazette.
It was disappointing, after I made it clear I was commenting as a concerned citizen, Craig Lindsay chose to make me out as a hysterical mom. I thought reporters were supposed to be neutral but he’s obviously sided with the Town of Didsbury.
Let me be very clear. When it first came to my attention about the fire department a few weeks ago, it was as a concerned member of the community. The information did not come from my firefighter son but from others.
As parents of a special needs adult son we have depended on the fire department for medical assists when the ambulance was not available.
There’s been times when after 30-plus minutes of a grand mal seizure we’ve had to rely on them to see us out of a medical emergency, and more importantly they were here when it’s been a very close call.
This is one of the reasons why it is so important to us that we have a fire department that isn’t falling apart.
It seems, according to the Town of Didsbury, that everything is now fixed, but if that’s the case why did several more experienced members resign just this week. A recruitment drive and mutual aid from other towns (which will add several minutes to response time) will not make up for the loss of several experienced members and it means those few that are left face more risk.
You would have done so much better if you would have let them speak to Caliber for the safety audit but this didn’t happen.
You chose to interview them individually in the most intimidating way, separating them from the audit and then their concerns weren’t even heard.
This is very one-sided and it does not appear that you’ve considered the community’s best interests.
How do you think it makes them feel to know that nobody on council seems to care whether they stay or go?
The next time you do an audit maybe get a neutral party who doesn’t just side with who paid them.
Cindy and Brian Tippe
Didsbury
