Milford chronicle., 1951-02-23
ARE WE VULNFRABLE2


ARE WE VULNERABLE?
A short time ago an out-of-town fire in
surance representative was in our office
when the fire alarm sounded He was i'm
mediately interested and watched from our
Office as local fremen responded to the call.
In remarkably short time two trucks had
left the fire house and were on their way to
the scene of the fire. He seemed to be great
ly impressed with the quick manner in
which the volunteer fremen had reached
their fire station in response to the call But
after they had gone and we were again sit
ting IN our Office he raised a question. He
said, Il wonder where the fire was and Whe-
ther it was necessary to take two trucks to
the scene of the blaze" We made inquiry
and found that this particular fire was a
chimney blaze in Slaughter Neck This in
turn brought forth several observations on
the part Of the visiting insurance man. In
effect the line of reasoning which he pre-
sented was along the following line For
ire OF such nature (and the firemen knew
before leaving the fire house the nature of
the hre) is 1t wise to take not only the
equipment but also the trained men so far
from Milford? His thought was that in so
doing city property, the protection of which
IS certainly the prime consideration of our
local fire department, is left without ade-
4AetGC PAOgCCb4UH ne reasoned tL[lab IN
time OF sudden emergency the first few min
utes at fire means the difference between
great damage and loss or holding the prop
erCy destruction to a minimum. "After all"
ne said, milford citizens support their To-
cal ire company for the prime reason of
self protection in case of emergency"
Since his visit with us we have given the
matter much thought. 1t seems to us that
ne is correct IN what he said. At time when
the manpOwer of our city will decrease as
the armed forces take the young men into
the services, it would seem that more care
should be exercised in responding to out-of
town fires. This does not mean that when
the necessity arises that our firemen should
not respond. On the contrary it means that
sufficient men should be kept in readiness at
nome TO meet any emergency as quickly as
II arises. Without offering one word of crit
lclsm at our local fire fighters, we offer this
suggestion. Wouldn't it be wise to keen inst
as much equipment and manpOwer within
the city limits as is possible at all times. and
send only that equipment and minimum
number OF men required for small Out-of-
town 1lres? This seems only sensible. es-
peclally so during the trying times through
winch we are passing. Certainly the prop
erty owners will agree with this.
5000
LET'S TAKE STOCK
One hundred and seventy years ago
man whose number 13 riding boots were a
measure OF his spirit and, courage as well as
ms stature, led small army of ill-clad and
aastlly trained volunteers to victory over
vastly superior forces
It has been said of our times that there
are few men who have the stature to feel
at home in the boots Washington wore so
we'll
The people who built our country were
tough, independent, and idealistic But are
the. men who developed RADIO television. at
olnlc energy, and the many new and breath
taking techniques in the field Of science any
less Plo9l.eers-any less tough, Independent
and idealistic-because their frontiers are in
the Nations laboratories? Are our soldiers
IN Korea any less so? Or the workers of
When the chips are down, when there's a
Joo 20 be done, who is to say we are not lust
as rqgged-just as idealistic-as any of the
people who built this Nation?
In this time Of crisis, when all Of us will