THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 12, 1996 TAG: 9604100149
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
The other day my 12-year-old son said, ``Hey, Mom, look!'' What I saw was my son's eyes filled with pride as he stood wearing his father's firefighting gear. This was such a shock to see. You see, for years my son has been terrified of the job his father does for a living. It was not at all uncommon for my son to wake up in the morning and ask whether his father was at the fire station or out painting houses (his part-time job). More often than not, if I told him his father was at the station tears would surface. I guess that's why I was so shocked to see him standing there so proud and announcing that when he grows up he is going to be a firefighter, something he swore he would never be.
I wish I could say that the look I gave him in return was one of pride, but I can't. I'm sure my look showed total fear.
I've always known that firemen risk their lives every time they answer a call. I just never thought it could happen in a small city like Chesapeake. That sense of security was shattered on March 18, when two of my husband's fellow firefighters were killed in the line of duty.
Like so many other wives, I have always tried to put the danger of his job out of my mind, but now I find my security blanket is gone. My husband has always told me that every precaution is taken to protect lives. After reading the articles in Thursday's and Friday's newspaper, I can no longer believe this is true.
To think that firefighters must enter a burning building with an inadequate means of communication and a lack of manpower is unbelievable. I don't know if a better communications system would have saved those firefighters' lives, but it sure couldn't have hurt. The thought that those firefighters might have lost their lives because their cries for help were never heard is devastating. How can we ever feel our husbands are safe when we now know that their calls for help may never be heard?
It is time that we pull together as a community to ensure that every precaution is taken to protect the lives of our firefighters and our loved ones. You never know, it could be your loved one in the arms of a rescuing firefighter when a roof collapses. How would you feel knowing that your loved one was trapped and the firefighter's call for help was never heard? It is going to take the help of every citizen in Chesapeake to make Fire Chief Bolac and the Chesapeake City Council do what is necessary to protect our firefighters and our citizens. Every citizen needs to pick up the phone and call a council member and encourage him to find the funds for a better communications system and force more manpower.
I know that with the help of the Fire Fighters Union of Chesapeake and the community we can get the equipment and manpower that our firefighters need. I am ashamed to say I have not been very supportive when my husband has come to me to say he is going to a union meeting. The majority of the time he ends up staying home with me because I've complained about how little the kids and I get to see him. It's a shame that it took a tragedy like this to make me see how much the union is needed.
The union is only as good as the men and women who support it. I am putting my faith in the wives, families, community and the union to help the city of Chesapeake to get their priorities straight. Hopefully, with all of us working together, that look of fear can be replaced once again by a look of pride.
Tammy Fleischer
Drummond Lane Not ``wonderful''
I can think of only one phrase to describe the new Checkered Flag dealership coming to Chesapeake: It stinks, literally.
I live in the quiet neighborhood next to where the new dealership is going to be located. Our family moved from Norfolk to this neighborhood in Chesapeake because it was a peaceful area. I can see now that it won't last long. Already, the air in our neighborhood is saturated with the pungent odor of ``controlled burning.''
That's only the beginning. Traffic is going to become even more of a headache, as if it isn't bad enough on Battlefield Boulevard already. Oh, and I just can't wait until construction crews come around and make enough noise to rattle our windows.
Frankly, I'm not surprised Mayor William E. Ward was quoted in The Clipper as saying this sign of progress is ``wonderful.'' He doesn't have to live next to it.
Charity Cochran
Red Oak Trail by CNB