9:30 AM Update:
Okay now that I've had my coffee I, sort of, get it.
But since alcohol calls (for service) accounted for half the service requests that means non-alcohol calls also accounted for half.
Therefore they could also have simply used the headline "Emergency Ambulance Calls Strain Amherst Fire Department." Either way it underscores how overburdened our professional department is and how ridiculous it is to waste time thinking about going “all volunteer.”
Since some folks don't have a subscription to the Gazette here's the Comment (and if you do have a subscription and read Gazettenet you have to do a search to find today’s front page print article):
Larry Shaffer strikes again. And before we start complaining about Hadley, Leverett, and Shutesbury calls, remember that is 3 out of 48 calls and the town is billing those patients or their insurance company around $1000 each. That is on top of the flat fee each town pays to have the ambulances on call. Umass and Amherst college are also paying six figures to the town for services. Larry Shaffer wants volunteers to handle this? The guy is dangerous. His total lack of understanding of Public Safety and his value of the almighty dollar over the value of human life is disgusting. He should be ashamed of himself! I do not get how Amherst with 45 firefighters can only have 7 per shift on? If you need to staff 1-2 more men per shift on Thursday-Saturday, that would equate to $1,000 per week for maybe 30 weeks a year. The town would make that back up in Ambulance billing by having its own ambulances respond to the emergencies, instead of a mutual aid ambulance, which then gets to bill for its service and the town collects nothing. Amherst has 5 ambulances. On those weekend nights all 5 should be staffed. It does not make sense that Amherst can value money, so much more than life. Especially money that can be recouped by billing out ambulance service. God forbid there is a house fire or a serious motor vehicle accident with traumatic injuries when the department staff is reduced to zero. The consquences would be catastrophic. To the men and women of the Amherst Fire Department; your work is respected and endlessly appreciated by those of us who know. Be proud of the work you do. Chief Stromgren thank you for standing up for your department.
CBS Ch 3 reports (with a headline that makes perfect sense.)
6:15 AM
I'm not sure I get this morning's Gazette front page headline: "Alcohol calls tax Amherst". Maybe they meant "Amherst calls alcohol a tax", or "Alcohol taxes Amherst"?
Either way, it's good to see they are covering stories that happen into the wee hours of Sunday night/morning, although maybe the headline editor needed another cup of coffee.
Of course since the AFD actually issued a public statement Sunday saying they were swamped this weekend and couldn't keep up with ambulance requests--many alcohol related...
Now if citizens really want to lose sleep, imagine what would have happened to your house if a fire broke out while all those firefighters were busy on ambulance runs?
13 comments:
Really? You can't figure it out? Seems pretty obvious to me.
Try "Alcohol-Related Emergency Calls Strain Amherst Emergency Services".
Glad to see you have trouble reading as well as writing.
Instead of trading barbs, read the article and think about what a dangerous situation this is for every Amherst resident. There is an excellent comment posted as well. Some of the Larry Shaffer stuff maybe a little out of line, but after that there is a lot of sense made in the comment. Can you imagine waiting for an ambulance to come all the way from Easthampton or you are in North Amherst waiting for one from Belchertown? How about your house catching on fire and 4, 20 year old volunteers showing up to try and resuce your children from the burning structure?
"Larry", Cub reporter, blogger ----- always there to ridicule whoever he doesn't understand.
Let's take it slowly.
Alcohol: We know what that is. Calls: in this context, it would mean 911 type calls.
Tax: in this context...use to the limit; "you are taxing my patience" (no pun intended) Amherst: the town that your family has lived in for five generations, as we're always told. Lighten up, blogger.
"Dave" aka Dave
Actually Dave I believe I also had a compliment in my original post.
Actually the "Larry Shaffer stuff" wasn't out of line at all. He is playing dangerous games with our safety and it is about time that Amherst residents wake up and smell the coffee! Having all of the permanent force out and calling for station coverage is becoming a common occurance. And before Ed goes off praising the student force remember that they are NOT paramedics or as experienced as our regular or call forces are. I recall reading that Cheif Hoyle said last year there were 99 times there was a delay in response because of lack of coverage. What if that was your child waiting? Amherst has been lucky so far.
I think this is all the more argument for a volunteer fire department. We can't staff it adequately just using paid staff. Better to have a paid staff and a lot more staff who are volunteers.
It still takes time for those volunteers to return to the station. Volunteers don't sit around a station waiting for a call. They come after a call comes in. The delay for the volunteers to get to the station, then man their apparatus, and then respond to the call location, is not a model that works. Also, you are not going to find volunteer paramedics in Massachusetts. Paramedics go to school too long, for too much money, and to have too much in-service training to volunteer their time. A supplemental force of volunteers does not make up for an inaqeduate number of professsional firefighters and paramedics.
As someone who doesn't hesitate to criticize Larry, I too looked at that headline twice and had trouble with it this morning. It's a lousy headline.
I can't help but observe: Mr. Kelley is doing a more comprehensive job of covering town matters these days than the Gazette. It all comes with that special Kelley slant, but so be it.
I don't think that we can take anything for granted about public safety staffing in Amherst, and that's because we've had a Town Meeting membership that annually undervalues it.
You may not wish to serve in it, but you ignore Town Meeting at your peril.
Rich Morse
i wonder if there were this many calls because health services at umass is closed at midnight...it used to be open 24 hours but starting this year it closes at midnight...i wonder if some of thoise calls would have been handled by health services if they were open...
I am concerned though that all of this talk about an over-taxed Fire Dept will lead someone to have seconds thoughts about calling 911, thinking the AFD is too busy. When in doubt between making the call and not, make the 911 call. Better to be safe than sorry.
The reasonable thing to do is schedule your emergencies for the summer.
I seem to read that the Chief had to work. He is not a qualified firefighter???
Come now. I think that this whole thing was staged...
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