THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996                   TAG: 9605170003
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A16  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

THESE VOLUNTEERS ARE PROFESSIONALS

The front-page MetroNews article ``Budget: A city's self-portrait (May 12) contained an inadvertent insult to all volunteers within the local fire and rescue community.

Under the fire protection/rescue figures, it is noted: ``Virginia Beach and Suffolk have a number of volunteer rescue-squad members who supplement professional firefighters' work.'' This is a gross error. The largest insult comes in denying the volunteer the status of professional. While in many careers, the term professional implies compensation, this is not so within the fire and rescue professions. Each individual is trained exactly the same for his respective position, regardless of career status. The appropriate terminology would be ``volunteer and career professionals.''

Volunteer rescue workers do not supplement professional firefighters' work in any city in Hampton Roads. In Chesapeake, there are volunteer rescue personnel who work side by side with the career personnel. In Suffolk, the volunteer rescue squads pay career personnel to cover times when volunteers are not available, i.e., weekdays. In fact, the career fire-department personnel supplement, under a new arrangement, the volunteer rescue personnel when call volume exceeds available resources or on the occasions when volunteers are not available. In Virginia Beach, the career fire personnel do not man ambulances; they respond with their fire apparatus as first responders to assist the rescue personnel (who are all volunteers in Virginia Beach). Portsmouth and Norfolk do not have volunteer personnel in any positions.

The volunteer fire and rescue movements are nationwide and have a steep history of traditions since Benjamin Franklin formed the first volunteer fire brigade. Every day, they risk their lives and give of their time, talents and resources to help others without thought of compensation. In Hampton Roads, there are more than 1,000 volunteers serving this community.

W. LAWRENCE DANIELS, R.N.

Norfolk, May 12, 1996 MEMO: Editor's note: W. Lawrence Daniels, an emergency department nurse at

DePaul Medical Center, is a volunteer paramedic with Nansemond Suffolk

Volunteer Rescue Squad.

by CNB