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"I came to the work session last week because firefighters are essential to the safety of <br /> all in our community, but their safety is just as important. My father was a paid firefighter for 30 <br /> years. He risked his life everyday because he was willing to go where others would not. He <br /> was trained and skilled in his work. Our family was proud of his work and commitment to our <br /> community. It is inconceivable that our local officials would knowingly place him or any other <br /> fire fighter in danger because of equipment failure —which is addition to the dangers he faced <br /> every time he was on duty. <br /> As I listened to the leaders of the rural and Chapel Hill fire departments speak about 8-26 <br /> second radio outages, I found myself in tears. Then angry. <br /> Just Imagine: Mayday! Mayday! Please Help! <br /> WAIT 26 seconds <br /> That's 26 seconds. Imagine if we were in a burning building? Hurt or bleeding? or worse? <br /> Please show us your commitment to the safety of the citizens of Orange County and the <br /> committed volunteers and professionals who keep us safe. The Fire Chiefs have fully <br /> explained the problems, it is now up to the county to have a plan to fix the EMS call center and <br /> dispatch system and viper communication — and while you're working on it, please go find the <br /> money to fund it. <br /> Please don't confuse this with the many topics on your plate. Please don't include this in your <br /> advocacy for more taxes or confuse it with other priorities for economic development or <br /> schools. Please place this at the top of your list of basic, critical services that every citizen <br /> assumes that the county is providing. Unlike parks, recycling, and county buildings and other <br /> important things that you manage —this time it is a matter of life or death." <br /> Stan Cheren from JoMac Road read a prepared statement: <br /> "I'm Stan Cheren —Tonight I'm speaking for the Jo Mac Road community—which is one of the <br /> communities that's been affected by the change in insurance guidelines. This year, many of <br /> my neighbors faced large increases in their homeowner's insurance premiums. Apparently <br /> there are new insurance rating practices which place more weight on the ISO fire insurance <br /> categories. Many of us are in a category 10 —which means "no coverage" because our homes <br /> are more than 6 miles from the primary fire station. <br /> As you might imagine, people panicked. Our first reaction was to switch to the Carrboro Fire <br /> Dept—which is four miles away. We assumed a small increase in the fire tax was trivial <br /> compared to the large increase in our insurance premiums. Of course we knew nothing about <br /> fire coverage — and quickly learned that we— like every home in the county— are under a <br /> mutual aid agreement— and in case of fire, Orange Grove, White Cross and Carrboro would all <br />