• Philadelphia fire kills 12. Row house not required to have fire escape.
• New York City fire kills at least 19 including 9 children. Apartment house had smoke detectors.

Granted, Eastern cities have older buildings that may not meet modern building codes. They may have outdated heating systems and may lack smoke detectors or sprinklers. And granted, winter is the season of building fires, as people use space heaters or even hibachis to supplement inadequate furnaces.

Nevertheless, is this the time to lay off hundreds of firefighters because they didn’t take the vaccine? Is this the time to refuse to recognize religious exemptions, or recognize that those who recovered from Covid may not need the vaccine?

Is there evidence that the response to these fatal fires was impaired by decreased staffing? No. But if there were such evidence, do you believe city officials would publicize it and condemn themselves?

Police, fire services, and emergency medical services are not political footballs to be kicked around at the whim of politicians. “Defund the police” and “fire unvaxxed firefighters and EMTs” may sound good as slogans, but they can be fatal as realities. If public safety is not the first priority of government, then what is?