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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 16, 1993                   TAG: 9303160357
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS ARE PROFESSIONAL, TOO

IN YOUR March 3 editorial ("Fire! Fire! And 33 minutes later . . . ") concerning the response by firefighters to the Holiday Inn-Salem fire, you stated "the difference between five and 15 minutes is the difference between a professional force and a volunteer force."

I'm unsure of your definition of "professional." If it includes training, skills, knowledge and attitude, as does mine, your comments were way off base.

In Virginia, volunteer and career firefighters attend the same training programs, take the same examinations and meet the same "professional" standards. The primary difference between the two is that volunteers, generally, hold full-time jobs and are not paid for their fire or emergency medical work, while career people often must hold part-time jobs to supplement their career positions in order to support their families.

The editorial seemed to be based solely on Fort Lewis Volunteer Fire Department's reported response time. If so, you should be aware that anyone responding to the call would have had to wake up, comprehend the nature of the call, its location, dress, go to the unit/truck and start it before leaving the building. The six-minute driving time to the call would be the same for either a career or volunteer firefighter. KAREN D. WALTZ Volunteer Life Member Cave Spring Rescue Squad ROANOKE COUNTY

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