At the firehouse there is a growing concern with the people of the town. This concern stems from us firemen feeling as though we are being singled out or watched to see if we speed or our vehicles are too loud when responding to fire or accident alarms. Let's give a few generalized facts before we go into details:
1. Milton is a growing community. A large number of residents have moved to Milton to retire or to live a quieter life than they can get in the cities. And, for the most part, those born and raised here welcome those new residents to our community.
2. The Milton Fire Department has had the opportunity to grow, also. We have added over 40 new members to our department in the past five years. I have been able to watch these new firemen grow to be part of a fire department that any community would be proud of.
For the past couple of months, there have been numerous complaints from community residents of firemen driving very loud trucks and speeding when responding to fire alarms. Some of the firemen drive trucks that have loud exhausts and do sound very loud. They all, however, have to go through vehicle inspection and to my knowledge, all have passed. As far as the speeding, make no mistake that none of us think that we are above the law and yes, should be stopped if driving excessive speeds and in an erratic manner. These firemen are responding to fire alarms and accident calls, but still must be sensible when doing so.
I believe that there is no one (or very few people) in this community (or any other) that always obeys speed limit signs. If the police officers of our community sat at the main roads within town limits and clocked the speed of many of the residents, they too would be speeding. Yes, we have been told that the police officers of this town will sit in one of the main roadways going through town that lead to the fire department. And they will stop any of the firemen that are speeding while going to the firehouse responding to an alarm. This is happening. We are being singled out.
One of our firemen was stopped last week for speeding. He and a fireman in the car in front of him were responding to an alarm. The fireman in the second vehicle was driving a loud pickup truck and the first vehicle was a car. The officer followed him to the firehouse and gave him a ticket for speeding. The car in front of him was not stopped. We are being singled out.
We occasionally perform siren tests. Last week we had a fire siren test. The police officer was sitting in the fire department parking lot when the siren went off. He immediately left. We were told by a community member that they saw him park in an area where he could clock the speed of firemen responding to the alarm that he thought they had. We are being singled out.
The president of the fire department and I have met with the police chief and the mayor of Milton and the complaints are still coming. It has gotten to the point of a resident spraying water from a hose at a fireman’s truck as he was passing by her house when responding to an alarm. It is difficult to figure out the best resolution to prevent this wall from rising between the residents of the town, the Milton police and our fire department. Maybe the best way to resolve the issue is to remind the firemen to respond cautiously when responding to an alarm and to let the residents of Milton know what the fire department does for the community.
There are many services that the fire department provides to the community. First and foremost is responding to fires and accidents. Response time is critical when responding to accidents. The chance for survival of an accident victim is greatest if they get to the hospital within one hour following impact – The Golden Hour. In addition, we do training exercises, assist with the 5K runs, organize and run the Christmas parade, provide the main location for the Holly Festival, assist Irish Eyes with organizing the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, provide the fire prevention program for the schools and assist the police department with the Police Night Out.
Our family of firemen are very active within the community and respond to numerous fire calls and accidents on a daily basis. The Milton Fire Department (as many other departments in Delaware) is not a paid fire company. These men and women are volunteering their time and services to assist the community. On behalf of the volunteers at Milton FD, we are asking the community to be courteous and keep in mind that when there is an emergency and the fire whistle blows, we are not speeding through town to rush home. We are rushing to save you or your loved ones in times of need.
J.R. Clark
Milton Fire Department chief
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