The Clueless or Worse...

I recently got an e-mail letting me know that someone had posted a comment in the Fire Department's website guestbook. I log in and check it out and just have to laugh.

Once again, an attack against me and my family, telling how terrible my family has been to the Department and how everything would be so much better if my brother and I weren't Chief and Assistant Chief, respectively.

Obviously, this person has either never been in the Department and is just ignorant, or is and ex-member and, in addition to having some residual anger, is a complete idiot.

In December 2004, in what can be described best as a palace coup, my brother was voted out as Chief and the then Assistant Chief voted in as Chief. Ten months later, this person was removed not only from office, but from the Department entirely. In ten short months the Department went from being caught up on its bills to being several months behind on bills, with the threat of repossession of the engine on the horizon. All-in-all, we were over $25,000 behind on our payments.

So this person was removed and my brother was asked to take the reigns once again. Now, a year after his resuming control, all of those bills have been paid and the Department is not only completely caught up, but is several months ahead. In addition, the Department has purchased twelve new sets of SCBA with spare bottles, five new pagers, and ten new handhelds. We sent three firefighters to Texas A&M over the summer, something we didn't do last year because we didn't have the funds. We have recently received word that we have been awarded two grants, one for wildland gear and another for a new tanker.

But my family screws the Department over, if you listen to the ignorant...