It's been a long time since Gilford needed a Board of Fire Engineers

To the editor,

Voters of Gilford:

As a resident of this town, I ask you please do some research on who you vote for, in the future. Who is in charge of this town, anyway? I just read a very annoying article about a member of the Gilford Budget Committee who filed court papers stating that the town isn't facing an emergency pertaining to the fire department. I only hope this letter gets into the paper before the hearing on Friday in Superior Court before His Honor Justice Kenneth McHugh, and allow the residents of Gilford to read and reply in person. The hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

If this individual stopped to think just a bit, he would not try to be a hero. If he knew, as many peoples of this town or any other who has experienced a house fire, that the first five to ten minutes are most critical in saving a dwelling or saving a life. What is he thinking? He states that the town of Gilford is backed by 92 engines, six ladder trucks, and seven tower trucks of the Lakes Region Mutual Aid System. Obviously, he does not know how long it takes to get this equipment into Gilford to assist with the initial stop. He has no idea how long it takes for a heavy truck, especially one carrying thousands of gallons of water to make it up Gunstock Hill or up to Gunstock Acres where there are many dwellings. We need the equipment to do the job within those critical early minutes of a fire, and to give our firefighters the support they need.

I was a lieutenant on the call department many years ago, and I drove the old engine 5, (the Farrar which carried so much water and was not a spec. truck for it's weight). I know what it is like to have a stock piece of apparatus which operates on flat surfaces and one that has to climb a hilly terrain. Go ahead and spend the $150,000 you would have allocated for engine 4, and do it all over again a few years from. This is one of the reasons I ask the residents of this town to know who they are voting into office.

I would also ask the town folks to eliminate the Board of Fire Engineers. They are not needed now and they were not needed when I served the town many years ago. Come on Gilford, look at what the engineers are doing for the town, what the Budget Committee is not doing for the town, along with what elected officials are doing. We have a Fire Chief (and a good one) who is completely capable of his duties. Let him do his job, along with the Police Chief, and the other department heads (that's what they get paid for) or elected to office.

Please keep this in mind at election time, you'll be better off in the future. Thank you for your time.

Ken Slater

Gilford