I was disappointed and concerned after hearing of council's recent decision to layoff one firefighter ["Council rejects plea to keep firefighter," The Chief, June 5].
Putting the public at an increased risk to save money when there are other ways to cut the budget shows very poor judgment.
Does council not fully understand what the fire department is responsible for? Lives and property - pretty big responsibilities wouldn't you say? This is an essential service, when we need them they must be here.
For the sake of such a small savings per taxpayer, the cuts to service and risks are not worth it. Squamish is a growing community so why does our fire department not grow with the needs of the town?
The District of Squamish already relies very heavily on our group of dedicated volunteers for fire protection after hours and on weekends.
These volunteers will now be expected to leave their jobs during the weekday to come to fire calls because there are not enough fulltime firefighters to do the job.
The reality is that volunteers cannot all leave their jobs, work out of town or are busy elsewhere, so this could leave our town without fire rescue services.
I do not appreciate that my family's safety is not considered important enough to justify a negligible increase in taxes.
Blair Gosling
Squamish
