Dear Editor:
Re: Fire chief questions wait times, Burnaby NOW, April 23.
Life-and-death emergencies are a statistical rarity, but they must come first.
The ambulance incidents cited are not the most common, but that is precisely what an ambulance is about - prevention of death or permanent damage in extreme cases. The ambulance service is the service devoted entirely to the care of people. This must be a high priority.
It is good to see both the firefighters and the councillors support the ambulance service. The firefighters have the job of defending both people and property but are now given the loathsome choice - help the person, or move on to the fire, simply because someone made the ambulance late.
The province compounds the error by suggesting that the firefighters now downgrade their own response times. It is clear who has the right priorities.
Let the firefighters and the ambulance workers both concentrate on their jobs, and stop playing them off against each other.
Albert Melenius, Burnaby
