OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via our website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to an article, titled 'Petition demands fire chief resign after golden retriever drowns,' published Jan. 24.
It is indeed unfortunate that the Weavers' dog drowned and my sympathies extend to them as well as the others involved at the scene.
A municipality’s fire department is governed by an "establishing and regulating" bylaw, which is set and approved by municipal council. (This) bylaw determines the level of service that the fire department will provide and that municipal council will fund through taxes.
After a 32-year career in the fire service, I know what it’s like to be in harm's way but, more importantly, I know the awesome responsibility that comes with putting others in harm's way to save a life.
In this situation, if the chief had of participated or allowed the participation of firefighters under his supervision, in a rescue attempt that was clearly beyond the scope of the bylaw, he would have been grossly negligent.
If the rescue turned out successful, I’m sure we would hear little more of it. If, on the other hand, a firefighter or a member of the public was seriously injured or lost in a rescue attempt that the department was neither trained for nor equipped to undertake, the losses would be near incalculable.
It was a tragic incident for all involved, but it could have been much worse.
Ray Millar
Tiny Township
