In many ways, an island fire department is like a fire department in any other small community: limited funding, dependency on volunteers, lack of equipment. The major difference, and one that lies behind many of the challenges island departments face, is the isolation. Reinforcements are an ocean away, and there is no back up equipment. If a truck fails, there’s no replacement truck. Island isolation also means, rather ironically, a lack of water resources. Despite being surrounded by the ocean, finding the massive amount of accessible water needed to fight a large fire can be daunting. Perhaps most importantly, island isolation results in a lack of manpower. When it comes to firefighting, islands are often on their own.
None of this is news to the firefighters of Penobscot Bay. Islesboro, North Haven, and Vinalhaven fire departments all deal with these pressures on a daily basis. Many of their concerns are similar, but as with other island institutions, each situation is unique.
Islesboro’s department, led by 20-year chief Murton Durkee, answers an average of 25 calls a year, including ambulance calls. It became a municipal department in the early 1990s, though it had been town-supported for years. Firefighting on Islesboro is family business – Chief Durkee’s father was the head of this department for 26 years. There have been many changes in this time, but Durkee says it’s the little things that have made the big difference, what he calls “the tools and the toys” – cell phones, thermal imaging cameras, improved hoses. Islesboro currently operates four trucks: three pumper trucks and one tanker trucker that holds 2,000 gallons. It also maintains a mini-pumper on nearby 700 Acre Island, home to a few year-round families and a boatyard.
The Islesboro department has worked hard to keep its equipment current, and to improve its water capacity. By offering to install dry hydrants when a homeowner builds a pond or swimming pool, the department increased the amount of available water. Recent GIS mapping of these water access-points provides a clear radius of each pond, and allows firefighters to plan their strategies accordingly.
Durkee is proud of his department, but is concerned about membership, which has been both declining and aging. “Currently we have 13 members, but we need more young guys,” Durkee says. “I don’t think we are alone. All islands and rural towns have a lot to volunteer for; we’re in competition [with other island organizations].”
Complicating this shortage of members are the demands of training recruits to state-mandated levels. “We are not denying that training is good,” explains Chief Durkee, “the part that is difficult for islands is that we can’t get support from other towns. We have to do it all. We need to be trained for everything, and that is quite challenging. Not just grass and chimney fires, but also boat and plane emergencies, vehicle emergencies. To be trained in all that – plus terrorism, hazardous material – it’s a lot.” Bruce Woodward, Rockport chief and training instructor for Maine Fire Training and Education (the training agency for the state of Maine), agrees. “A lot of their training is off-island, so it is a big commitment of volunteers and a big financial commitment of the town.”
Despite being part of Waldo County, Islesboro has a mutual aid agreement with Knox County, an association that stretches back to the 1960s when Knox County had enough equipment to share and Waldo didn’t. In traditional mutual aid situations, neighboring departments establish a formal understanding regarding what level of equipment or manpower will be sent. This provides small fire departments with a larger firefighting force and more equipment than they would be capable of mustering on their own. “Because island departments are separated from their neighboring departments, mutual aid cannot work in the same way,” says Bruce Hensler, Deputy Fire Administrator at Maine Fire Training and Education.
Woodward agrees, “You can imagine how long it takes to get manpower and equipment to the island, so they have to be more resourceful and innovative. And it’s a bit of a handicap.” Because mutual aid is so slow in arriving, Durkee admits that he only asks for help an average of once every four or five years, “for a large grass fire and once for a structure fire.”
For North Haven, mainland mutual aid agreements have been considered, but chief Forrest Sprague has decided instead to focus on increasing the quality and level of his department’s equipment. North Haven currently has only one mutual aid agreement – with its neighboring island of Vinalhaven. “They’ll send over manpower, and maybe some pumps,” Sprague says. North Haven has discussed joining a larger mutual aid association, but hasn’t yet moved to take on the work to set it up. “We just try to keep as much equipment as possible,” he says.
Sprague has been a firefighter on North Haven for over 30 years, and chief for the last 13 years. “When I took over, [the department] wasn’t in good shape,” he says, but he has overseen the department’s move into using pagers, purchasing new pumps, and updating trucks. He would like to see the town purchase another new truck, but recognizes that there is nowhere to put it. The town manager is currently investigating funding for a new firehouse.
The North Haven department is also trying to recover from a recent precipitous drop in numbers. After the department dropped to six or seven active members, concern grew that there were not enough firefighters to serve as a successful department. According to firefighter Mark Curtis, a recent recruiting push, including an information session, has resulted in 25 new volunteers coming forth, most of whom attended a recent equipment training session. Sprague hopes this signals a new beginning, “This is a lot more than I ever figured,” he admits, “and I hope it keeps up.” But the North Haven department is a quiet one and “it becomes hard to keep people interested when there aren’t any calls.”
Like Durkee, Sprague is concerned about the level of training required by the state. Mandated training is “getting worse and worse, even the full-time departments are having a hard time. I don’t know how these small towns are going to do it, both financially and in manpower.” His biggest concern is convincing volunteers that they need to go to fire school, even though it can be difficult to meet the required standards.
After 13 years of service, at this year’s town meeting Sprague stepped down from his post, giving the department 90 days to find a new chief. “I’d like to stay involved in the department,” he says, “But I need to do something else.” His 90-day extension is up mid-June, and so far no one else has volunteered for the position. Sprague remains undecided on whether or not he will stay on as chief.
Vinalhaven chief Marc Candage would most likely be sympathetic to Sprague’s dilemma. A firefighter since 1990, and fire chief since 1998, Candage is the newest chief in Penobscot Bay, and the only one in a full-time paid position. Candage started the paid position in January 2004, the first time Vinalhaven has had a full-time chief on the payroll. “Fire service has changed a lot in the last 20 years,” he says, “There are more responsibilities. People used to show up when the whistle blew, then would leave and wouldn’t show up again until the whistle blew. Now it’s more a job than volunteering anymore.”
Unlike its neighbor, the Vinalhaven department currently has a healthy number of volunteers on its roster. There are 37 members, 20-25 of whom Candage considers very active. More volunteers than ever before are in training to receive their Firefighter I certification (the level required by the state to enter a burning structure). Although Vinalhaven pays firefighters for responding to calls, trainees going off-island do not receive time reimbursement, just funding for a motel and one meal a day. Despite this dedicated volunteer core, Candage agrees with the other chiefs that it is hard “to get everyone the right amount of training that is required.”
The Vinalhaven department answers 60-70 calls a year, including fires, hazardous material spills and car accidents. Like Islesboro, Vinalhaven belongs to Knox County mutual aid. However, “the truth of the matter is that unless we had a Main Street fire or a really large brush fire, it is impractical to call because of the time factor,” explains Chief Candage. He can remember only once when it was called, for a fire on Main Street, Vinalhaven’s most densely built area. Candage admits that they are far more likely to call North Haven, with which they also have a mutual agreement. “If [the fire] is up by the Thoroughfare, then North Haven can actually get there faster than we can.”
Vinalhaven maintains four trucks, including a brand new 2000-gallon pumper/tanker. It also has three older pumpers, ranging in age from 1980 to 1990. Candage’s major goal right now is making sure that his department is in compliance with the Bureau of Labor standards and practices. With the time that a paid, full-time position allows him, he hoping to “bring us up where we ought to be. Until now, no one’s had the time to go through these programs to get them written and implemented.”
The work that island chiefs put in does not go unnoticed. Rockport chief Bruce Woodward, who works closely with Islesboro and Vinalhaven, praises their dedication. “I have seen vast improvements to the equipment in the 20-plus years I’ve been going out there. They’ve done a good job trying to keep up. They are pretty progressive, and I have found the people very innovative and dedicated to providing good quality fire protection, with good attendance at training.” And despite the lack of mutual aid benefits, the chiefs are regular attendees at quarterly mutual aid meetings, trying to work together as a team for the benefit and safety of their islands.