My fellow residents, this project has prompted our membership to take some action; we ask that you join us to prevent this action from taking place.

At the Jan. 4 annual meeting of the Defiance Hose Company No. 1, a motion to notify the Zoning Board of Review and each of its members as to our concerns related to the construction of a drive-thru Dunkin’ Donuts in the lot north of the Defiance Station was passed unanimously by this body.

The Defiance Hose Company has proudly served the residents of Bristol for more than 112 years. We are a volunteer fire company making up 50 percent of the fire protection from Chestnut Street north to the Warren line. We are also the second due company for fires south of Chestnut Street. Our members are dedicated to serving our community and, in many cases, extend our help to neighboring communities.

Our concerns with this project are basic:

• Fire — We have learned through training that today’s fire grows at a faster rate than ever before because of the materials used in furniture, construction, fabrics and most household items. Fire doubles in size every three minutes; interior temperatures rise to thousands of degrees in minutes.
• Response — We are volunteers. We come from north, south, east and west roads. We do not have the luxury of emergency lights and sirens on our personal vehicles. Assassin restrictions to access our station would greatly reduce our response times.
• Safety — With restrictions to the access of members responding to calls, the safety of residents to whom we have sworn our protection has been seriously compromised.
• Traffic — We have been at our present location since 1928 and, as you can realize, in those days a car was a luxury. In today’s world, a car is a necessity; typically, a family of four drivers has four cars. We have firsthand knowledge of how hard it is getting out of the station today, even with red lights and sirens.
• Our mission — As it has been stated, we are a chartered volunteer fire company serve the town of Bristol. We are given the use of the station on Hope Street. We are supplied with Engine 3 and Engine 5 by the town. The members of the station, thanks to a great donation by Bristol businesses, now have in service Brush 1, a former military Hummer equipped with a portable pump to attack brush fires. We ask for no money for our services. All we ask is to let us do our job and please do not hinder our ability to serve the residents of Bristol.

In closing, let me quote a very logical man who once said, “Sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.”

William Van Voast
Clerk
Defiance Fire Company