This article is in response to Richard Rider's ( column regarding firefighting options ), which ran on Oct. 31. His call to "think outside the box" regarding firefighting options is absurd in its lack of logic and understanding of the job. It is also dangerous. Corrections and rebuttals to his article need to be made.

While it is true that a small portion of firefighters' time is spent fighting fire - approximately 5 percent of our calls - the remainder break down something like this: 80 percent are medical emergencies, 10 percent traffic accidents and 5 percent are public service. So although we are being paid while not fighting fires, contrary to what Rider would like people to believe, most of us are not just sitting around.

As for utilizing the Navy with their "rudimentary training," it should be brought noted that fighting a fire in the bulkhead of a ship is much different than fighting a wildland fire. And if we did use the military for fires, how long would it take them to mobilize all that gear you mentioned? What if they're unavailable, what then?

Oh yeah, we can mobilize the government-trained, -funded and -equipped private citizen to do the job. But more on that later.

What about other 911 calls? Who would respond to the house fire, heart attack, traffic accidents, etc.? There must be a reason Camp Pendleton's fire department personnel are nonmilitary. Maybe they realize soldiers are for defending the country and firefighters are for responding to fires and emergency calls.

What exactly is un-American about evacuating people from situations that could prove fatal and reminding people that a house is not worth dying for? Rider's advocating for homeowners to fight fires is both careless and dangerous. If someone does stay behind to defend their home, the priority for the firefighters becomes the safety of the homeowner rather than the structure involved.

When citizens get into trouble, firefighters have to drop what they are doing to rescue them. This scenario played out on the first day of the Harris fire, when four firefighters got burned trying to save the life of a private citizen. The citizen died and the four firefighters are in the UCSD burn unit, two of them critical. [Editor's note: One of the firefighters was released from the UCSD Burn Center on Monday; one remains in intensive care there.]

As for the government-trained and -equipped citizen force, what training requirements would it have? When and where would this citizen force train or store equipment? Maybe they could train after work, after they spend time with the kids and before they eat dinner?

Solving these problems is easy while sitting in an office at a computer, but I suggest before Richard Rider opines about emergency services in such a public manner, that he educate himself first. Perhaps he should spend a day at a fire academy or stop by a paramedic school program (every firefighter hired in North County has to be a paramedic first). Maybe then he would realize exactly what it is we do.

- San Diego resident Kevin Lynds is a firefighter with the Carlsbad Fire Department.