Monday, December 26, 2005

Thieves And Arsonists -- Open Season

Yesterday, I posted this, as a general thank-you to firefighters everywhere. We tend to depend on them without noticing them, y'know?

Firefighters don't do their jobs on the basis of whether or not they like you, or think you are a law-abiding citizen. They work just as hard to put out a fire at a grow-op as they do if the fire is at a regular residence. Or a hospital. And when they leave the station, they don't lock the doors, either.

That's why this news item pissed me off:

Firefighters Christmas lunch spoiled by thief
Dec, 25 2005 - 4:40 PM

VANCOUVER - This one falls under the "how low can you go" category.

Captain Rob Jones-Cook with the Vancouver Fire Department says while crews responded to a suspected arson fire at St. Paul's Hospital, a theif broke into the firehall.

He says the suspect took an undisclosed amount of money firefighters on duty had pooled together for Christmas lunch.

And that item was quickly followed by this:

St. Paul's Hospital set on fire Christmas Day
Dec, 25 2005 - 4:50 PM

VANCOUVER - No patients were injured after 2 separate fires broke out at St. Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver Christmas Day.

Spokesperson with Providence Health Care Shaheen Shivji says the fires were contained quickly on the 4th floor, which is home to mostly administrative and non-clinical offices.

Patient care and the emergency room operations have not been affected.

The fires have caused widespread damage to the 4th floor of the downtown building.

Captain Rob Jones-Cook with the Vancouver Fire Department says about 60 gallons of water was deployed by the sprinkler system, putting out the fire, but leaving behind a major clean up effort.

Police are now looking for a person of interest in connection with the fires, which are being considered suspicious.

What kind of low-life deliberately sets fire to a hospital?

And if you'll notice, the time between those two items is ten minutes. Which makes me think they're related. Which makes me ask the next question:

What kind of low-life deliberately sets fire to a hospital so he can steal money from the fire station while the station is unoccupied?

Next time you have a chance to question one of your candidates in this election, why not hammer them on their stand for law and order? Forget about the gun registry that doesn't work and same-sex marriage and religious rights and whether or not someone thinks one of their wives looks like a dog or where they go to get their boo-boos bandaided or who insulted whom or who likes Bush (okay...take a breath...). This is all "soft" stuff. Nobody is being killed or deliberately put in danger for these issues.

But when are they going to get serious about law and order? When do we get laws with teeth? When do we get more police? When do we get minimum sentencing? When do we force judges to impose stiffer sentences for heinous crimes? When do we get more prisons? When are they going to ignore NIMBYisms in regards to building those prisons? And when are they going to stop focussing on victimless crimes and go after the assholes that need to be locked up for the protection of the population of this country?

Imagine yourself in the hospital (or one of your loved ones), helpless in bed, when somebody sets fire to the building and endangers your life -- just so he can steal from the people who have come to save your life.

Are you angry yet?

Because you bloody well should be!

1 Comments:

Blogger Candace said...

That's appalling! And you're right, they probably ARE connected since the Fire Dept is what, a block away?

I hope they catch the buggar(s).

Thursday, December 29, 2005 10:11:00 PM  

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