Sunday, February 26, 2012

A message of thanks to Wildwood/150 Mile Fire Departments

Over the weekend - members of the Wildwood & 150 Mile Volunteer Fire Departments (VFD) were called upon not once, but twice! to emergencies in Williams Lake (Friday night's fire at the former Williams Inn and Sunday's Chlorine Incident at the local Recreation Complex) to help out the local Williams Lake Fire Department

While true the City has a 'Mutual Aid' agreement with both of these Fire Departments - this past weekend's emergencies could have turned out worse if these two Fire Departments had emergencies in their response areas...

As such - this City of Williams Lake resident is deeply appreciative that members of both the 150 Mile House & Wildwood VFD's were able/willing to respond to two emergencies in a time span of 2 days... and I've sent an email this evening to Brian Carruthers - City of WL CAO & Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook encouraging them to do the same - both from an Staff and Political perspective to show our (Williams Lake resident) appreciation for 'having our back' as I'm confident that our residents would do the same for our rural neighbours in the Cariboo Regional District...

SBF

Update #1 (Sunday Feb 26th at 10:09pm) - 'Anonymous #1' earlier tonight told me that I forget to thank the Williams Lake firefighters and other emergency personnel, city workers, or the people who are helping the fire victims and of course, we should.  But I felt when I blogged the above - that it would be stating the obvious however I thank him/her for reminding me to thank the WL Fire Department, all city workers who assisted with the 'Howard Johnson (old Williams Inn) fire and the chlorine incident at the Sam Ketchum Pool, or those who assisted or have provided assistance to the fire victims (Howard Johnson fire) either this past Saturday or today (Sunday) by way of clothing, food, money, or other forms of assistance... if you want to help out the victims of the Howard Johnson fire, see more information here

Update #2 (Sunday, Feb 26th at 10:12pm) - As I noted earlier - I had suggested to the City CAO/Mayor Cook that a 'Letter of Appreciation' be sent to the Wildwood/150 Mile VFD's for their assistance for the two emergencies in Williams Lake this past weekend.  The bulk of the email that I sent was:

I know the last couple of days probably have been hectic with the fire at the Howard-Johnson Hotel and now the chlorine incident at the CMRC earlier today…

As it has been reported by the local media that the City’s Fire Department has called upon both Wildwood/150 Mile House Fire Departments for assistance for back-to-back emergencies (as per our Mutual Aid agreements) – I think it would be appropriate and prudent to send a “Letter of Deep Appreciation” to these two Fire Departments. Certainly – if there had been emergencies Friday night and today in Wildwood/150 Mile – the City could have easily found itself overwhelmed responding to these two emergencies…

As they say – easy to become complement with our emergency services until they are maxed to the limit with compounded emergencies in a short time span…

My suggestion would be two letters – one from administration (CAO) thanking Wildwood/150 Mile VFD’s from a ‘Staff’ perspective and one from Mayor/Council thanking, again, 150 Mile/Wildwood VFD, on behalf of the citizens of Williams Lake for backing up City emergency crews… especially in such a short time span… this could apply as well to the WL RCMP who have responded to a fair number of emergencies in the last 10 days including the fire Sat am, the chlorine incident today, and the 2 ‘false’ bomb threats in the last 10 days

I have received the following response from Brian Carruthers:

Steve, I appreciate your support of our emergency services. However, I will be frank in telling you that I really don't require you telling when and how a letter of appreciation is required from the CAO. I am very capable of knowing when and to who letters of appreciation are required. I have no issue if you want to pass on praise and support of our emergency services and I know you are trying to help but I do not require an 'arm chair' CAO. Please refrain from sending me e-mails suggesting how to do my job as it is somewhat insulting.

As requested by Mr. Carruthers - I will no longer send him or Williams Lake City Council any emails in regards to how to move the City forward on various issues... as it appears that my input is no longer welcome at Williams Lake City Hall but it would have been a good thing on his part if he had only said "Thanks for the input and we'll take it under advisement"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Campaigning already Steve? If that's the case, maybe you should at least thank the WL fire department too. And I hope you're not implying the WL fire department isn't competent on its own.
It's amazing that of of all that's happened, you have no thanks for Williams Lake firefighters and other emergency personnel, city workers, or the people who are helping the fire victims. Your only comment is to thank two out of town fire departments?
That's no way to get yourself elected.

Steve Forseth said...

Thanks for your comment...

Obviously - I'm thankful for "our" community resources - be it our Fire Department or the various individuals who helped out with the "back-to-back" emergencies this past weekend, but felt I didn't need to state the obvious... but I'll add as an update - your thoughts...

As I've said already, it is my view that it should be appreciated that the Wildwood/150 Mile VFD's were not busy with issues in their response area in order to help out their "neighbour" in Williams Lake, this past weekend

And no - I'm not campaigning here but simply stating the obvious...

Steve

Anonymous said...

Good for Mr. Carruthers. Two major emergencies and you're sending him that???? Unbeleivable!

Anonymous said...

Whereas I can appreciate Mr Carruthers frustration his response is not something I would expect from a person in his position.
This is the second time that I have personally witnessed him responding in whatcomes across as emotionally charged. It looks like he has personal anymousity against Steve and uses venues that, considering he manages our community, are somewhat inappropriate.

What I would suggest to you Brian is enact the next day rule and in cases like this it might be best to not respond at all.You need to use decorum and tact or you will start to come across as lacking good judgement. In your position as a leader you should act above those who address things you may not like other wise you come across just as them.....or worse.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 6:39. Can't you read, someone of Mr. Carruthers' position and stature does not require input on how to do his job from Steve or you in this case.
How insulting! lol

Anonymous said...

Perhaps he needs his ego in beefed up a bit more,

And thank you for everyone else for doing their jobs!

Why are thanking everyone for doing what they normally do? First commenter? I'm sure your the type of person who thanks EVERYONE for everything,......yep, I'm sure.......Keep up the good work, Steve.
Please do let them know how to do their job,.......THATS WHAT WE PAY THEM FOR!!!