You Should Not Balance the Budget by Scrimping on Public Safety

Tuesday night I attended the Town Council meeting and asked the Council if they intended to follow any recognized standard of safety in designating the number of firemen in a unit. The Mayor responded by asking the Fire Chief to answer. He indicated the Dep't ran pursuant to the fire safety codes of N.J..When I said that was not the question, the Mayor said the Council would not change the number of firemen responding to a fire from its present level.At least I got an answer.

The problem as I see it is the town looks at the Fire Department as an area where it can cut back without the general population noticing. There are just so many fires in a year and most people won't notice the results of the cutbacks.

The problem you and I have is that we are not being given the full picture about these alleged savings. We are bluntly told there is no impact on public safety when there is no basis on which to make such a claim.There are standards in the field of public safety which measure the level of safety being offered to Westfield.These standards are being ignored and with it our safety is less certain.

We pay good money for fire protection. We should be able to see and measure what we get. The town should be required to set forth the various standards they have reviewed and state the reasons for selecting one of those standards.Allow an open debate on what we need and what is appropriate for Westfield. After that, let's find out the cost. Let's debate the money aspect. At least we will all have facts and figures. As it presently stands,the Council is measuring our safety by the dollar sign.They deplete the fire dep't with no knowledge of the resulting damage they might be doing. Let them act with knowledge and facts on their side not just some archaic claim of prerogative.