Here's a letter to the Saturday, Dec 29, Laconia Daily Sun from the Laconia Fire Chief.
......................
Laconia fire chief defends decision to try and rescue deer
LACONIA - Responding to criticism of his decision to rescue a deer stranded on the ice on Paugus Bay on Wednesday, Fire Chief Ken Erickson said yesterday "this was not a hasty decision. We didn't just rush out there."
Erickson said that "we got calls from Long Bay and Weirs Boulevard for at least an hour and some people indicated they might try to rescue it themselves. We decided that before we have to rescue a person, let's get the thing off the ice to prevent an accident." He described the decision as "reluctant."
Erickson said that neither the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department nor the Animal Control unit of the Laconia Police Department were trained or equipped to affect a rescue. "My guys were equipped, protected and trained," he said.
"It's definately not our job," Erickson stressed," but we decided to do it to prevent someone else from trying it." He said that in the past firefighters rescued a dog from the Winnipesaukee River before it was washed over the Avery Dam and plucked another stranded dog from the ice in Lake Opechee.
-Michael Kitch
Laconia Daily Sun
....................................
Practice, practice, practice is what makes a rescue team more effective,
so going out onto the thin ice is very good as preparation for rescuing a child or adult. Most likely, the dead deer will be served up to Laconia Fire Dept people, or Saint Vincent De Paul kitchen or somewhere, and venison is good eating!
It's good to get a response from a Laconia firefighter who really knows the story on the actual LFD work load, and I owe you an apology for under estimating that, I truly do! I know, I read that in Boston the fire calls are way down due to smoke detectors so I figure the same must be true in Laconia.
As far as you doing a job that most others would not want to do, or be a part of, I respectfully disagree. In Laconia and central and northern NH, the middle class is taking a serious beating. Goodbye Molex manufactoring in Gilford. Goodbye LW Packard woolen mill in Ashland. Goodbye Annalee doll factory in Meredith. Most recently, goodbye Customized Structure modular homes in Claremont. And, as of tomorrow Dec 31, goodbye to 303 $16-22 dollar jobs, $18.64 average, +ot, at the Wausau paper mill, up north in Groveton. After 103 years of operation, the mill is closing.
How many of these goodbye-to-their-good-job people do you think would want to have a firefighter's job with its' good pay, health & dental insurance, pension, workers comp & job security?
In central New Hampshire getting a job working for a city or town is a very good deal.
Having said that, I know that if the smoke alarm goes off at 3am some frigid winter night, the Laconia Fire Dept would be right there, backing up the Meredith Fire Dept, and a house on fire is definately very destructive!
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
...hey , if you want a story with a very happy ending, then go to the 'Proposed Law' thread in the Speed Limits section and look at all the photos in the ,
www.lwsa.org, local kid's community sailing program...and just maybe you will be inclined to make a small donation to help build a new community sailing facility at Ellacoya State Park on Lake Winnipesaukee. At any rate, it's an interesting thread...