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Get Real,

I'm sure the FD has put a few dozen miles on each truck going to the supermarket. How dare they interact with the public and patronize city businesses. The Horror!

But, you do realize that in places that run seperate fire and ems systems that the fire department still responds, right?

And call volume is only one aspect of adequate fire department coverage. NFPA guidelines dictates the ability to have a minimum number of firefighters on scene within a given length of time. In light of that you can't simply cut the department by x% because fire call volume has dropped x% over time. Because, fires do still occur and, when they do, you need to have adequate personnel to extinguish them. Given that FD personnel need to be stategically located around the city anyway it only makes sense to then have them respond to EMS calls because it impoves services by lowering initial patient contact times, and it provides adequate manpower in the event a patient is critical, has mobility issues, or in any number of other scenarios where having only two people simply isn't enough.

In regards to the "new" ladder truck. This is a positive development in the short/medium term for the department. Given the price tag and the apparent condition of the truck its a positive to put it in service. For almost a year at this point, the major commercial and industrial areas of the city(RT 2/Jefferson Blvd) haven't been covered by an aerial apparatus at all! Ladder 1 has at various times been an out of town engine, an old WFD engine with a broken pump, an out of town ladder truck, an old police crown victoria, and a pick up truck. For a city and department the size of Warwick, that is dangerous and unacceptable. But this "new" truck remains 25 years old and is not a permanent solution. The need for a new ladder truck remains. The firefighters have been insrumental in saving the city millions in new apparatus purchases over the last decade through grants, but Warwick is still in desperate need of equipment upgrades.