From: db@matilda.vut.edu.au (David Bowman )
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Re: Fire fighters and whatifs  (Was Re: Sanity arrives ...)
Date: 8 Apr 92 01:10:46 GMT
Reply-To: db@matilda.vut.edu.au (David Bowman )
Organization: Victoria University of Technology, Melb, Australia

In article <1992Apr7.170901.11148@cbnewsl.cb.att.com> rlt@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (R.L.Taylor KB2OOA) writes:
>In article <1992Apr7.031848.5817@matilda.vut.edu.au> db@matilda.vut.edu.au (David Bowman ) writes:
>
>>>Gee, we have a fire department in my town, too.  But I still have smoke
>>>detectors in my house, and fire extinguishers in my kitchen and my car.
>>>To do otherwise would be pretty stupid, IMO.  Fire department response
>
>>You must have a miserable life, worrying all the
>>time about what can go wrong. I would get such equipment if
>>I lived in the bush, but in the inner city, no way!
>
>Yep, lemme tell ya, it's the pits!  Why, that fire extinguisher takes up
>a whole 3 or 4 square inches on my kitchen counter.  Dammitall, I have to
>dust the thing, too.  And I must have spent a whole 3 or 4 minutes out of
>my life deciding to buy it.  Yep, yep, worrying all the time, I am!  Oh,
>the suffering, the misery!!!!

You dust your fire extinguisher!

>
>But ya know, once I had a teeny little grease fire.  Gave it a squirt
>from the fire extinguisher, and presto!  All gone.  Took a couple minutes
>to wipe up, then I was back to cooking dinner...all in less time than
>it would have taken to get the fire department out.  And without anybody
>tracking mud on my nice clean rug. :-)  Amazifying, the benefits of being
>paranoid, now isn't it?  Good thing I spent all that time worrying about
>my kitchen getting dirty, so I had a sponge and some dish soap to clean
>it up with, now isn't it?

Nearly every one I know manages without a fir extinguisher. You
don't need one to put out a tiny greese fire! You guys
are hung up on consumerism.
>
>>>time (like police response time) can be several minutes...longer if they're
>>>already busy with another fire (crime).  Guess I should just let my house
>>>burn down while I wait?
>
>>No. I suggest you do something about the services your
>>country provides.
>
>Actually, in every town I've lived in, they're excellent.  And almost
>entirely volunteer.  (Except for the police.)  I've even spent many years
>volunteering my time on first aid squads.  Average response time for both
>fire and ambulance crew has been somewhere between 3-6 minutes in every
>town where I've volunteered.  But a fire can spread from insignificant to
>major, in that time.  You know, if it's necessary, I'm more than willing
>to get up any time of the night, drive in any kind of weather, and lose a
>night's sleep to help somebody.  I might get a tad annoyed if somebody
>called me at 3am if they weren't sick, and just wanted a free taxi, though.
>Likewise, why should I call out the fire department if it's not necessary?
>They're my friends and neighbors, I appreciate the sacrifices they make,
>I'm not about to cause them extra work.

Fair enough. If you live in a place prone to bush fires
your attitude seems just fine to me, in this respect. I
was talking about cities, not little towns in bush fire territory.

>
>Tell me, David, are you opposed to civilians knowing first aid, as well?
>Guess what - it's taught in the public schools here!!  Ooh, the paranoia,
>the misery, the suffering!!!  Bet you don't even keep a box of band-aids
>around, do you?  You're really getting ridiculous lately.  But thanks for
>the laughs!

That's OK, you repay me a hundredfold.
-- 
   "Leave our flies alone, you Pommy bastard!"
    Spectator at a Test match in the 1930s when an English cricketer
    was swatting at flies.
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns