On May 20, Great Diamond Island faced what all islanders fear: a fire. The volunteer department showed up within minutes of the report called in by a local fisherman, followed shortly by members of the Portland Fire Department aboard the Portland fireboat. Also on the scene were members of Long Island’s fire department, arriving within 15 minutes of their turnout on their fireboat.
On the mainland, this type of inter-departmental support is the norm. But on islands, this was the result of months of mutual training and cooperation among Casco Bay departments, and a positive result that took a lot of planning to achieve. And everyone had to be willing to act when things didn’t go as planned.
The Casco Bay islands, often thought of as a cohesive group, are in fact a disparate mix of municipalities. Chebeague is part of the town of Cumberland, while Great Diamond, Little Diamond, Peaks and Cliff Islands belong to the city of Portland. Long Island, which seceded from Portland in 1993, is an independent town. Each faces a different situation with its fire department, whether it’s learning to operate within a larger department or striking out alone.
Cliff Island, the most remote of Portland’s islands, first developed its department 15 years ago. Chief Dave Crowley helps bridge the gap between city and island in his dual role as Cliff chief and Portland firefighter, and in fact was working on the Portland fireboat during the Great Diamond fire. Currently the department has around 11 members, with varying levels of certification. Crowley praises his volunteers highly and their dedication shows up in money as well as time: last year department members voted to roll their hourly wages (as part of the city of Portland, members are reimbursed for time spent on calls) into an equipment fund instead of their own pockets. “Everyone thinks I’ve done a great job, but it’s the volunteers who are making me look good,” Crowley explains. “Anybody’s a fool to think they can do it alone.”
Crowley also credits Portland with strong support of the island department. “I can’t think of a time when [the relationship] hasn’t been pretty good,” he says. This year the department received two trucks, including a brand new pumper. The island departments used to receive the city department’s used vehicles and equipment, but as Crowley explains, “a couple of years ago the chiefs in town decided that it wasn’t okay to put retired equipment on the islands. The in-town departments only need small pumpers because they have hydrants, but on the island we need to bring the water with us, so we need 1,000-gallon pumpers.”
Long Island is a department with a very different history with the city of Portland. After the island seceded in 1993, the department had to start organizing itself as an independent department. “We’ve always had a good relationship with the Portland department, even during the secession,” says Long Island chief Coleman “Dickie” Clark. “We rely heavily on Portland and Cumberland for help.” He credits Portland chief Fred LaMontagne with making a big difference with the small departments: “He knows small departments.”
Because it is theoretically on its own, the Long Island department has been very innovative in connecting with the larger departments around it. A $10,000 Homeland Security communications grant allowed Long Island radio communications with Portland. Also, Long Island is connected through dispatch to Cumberland and Portland with an automatic call system – when an alarm is raised, all departments respond instantly. “Instead of waiting until we are at the scene and wasting time, automatic call allows us to get there quickly,” explains Clark. Unfortunately, during the Great Diamond fire, automatic call didn’t work as expected. Somehow, there was confusion at dispatch, and the call to other island departments never went out. Long Island simply headed over after seeing the fire from a distance.
Long Island trains frequently with both Portland and Cumberland, as well as combining classes for Firefighter 1 and other certification. Filling classes is a problem for many island departments, as Maine Fire Education & Training requires a minimum of eight in a class. By pulling from several islands, volunteers are able to sidestep the size barrier. “It’s very hard scheduling across the islands,” says Clark, “but it works out well cost-effectively.”
Clark has had great success with grant writing, and shares his success with the rest of Casco Bay. Recently, the Long Island department received a Homeland Security grant for a compression and air bottle filling station. After combined training, island departments can now refill their air tanks right on Long Island and take them back to their respective departments. Another Homeland Security grant replaced obsolete airpacks, and a grant from the Cole Foundation resulted in a new thermal imaging camera for the island. “We never would have been able to get that otherwise,” says Clark.
Although Clark is happy with the results of island collaboration, he sees room for improvement. “We need to work together faster and better. We need to know who is bringing what equipment, so that we don’t have any questions when we are trying to get there.”
The third party in the Casco Bay cooperative is Chebeague, which is part of the town of Cumberland. Like Chief Crowley on Cliff, Chebeague department head Tom Calder finds his mainland chief, Daniel Small, to be very supportive. As on Peaks, Chebeague used to get equipment that was no longer needed on the mainland. “Over the years, some of it was less than desirable. But recently, they have been replacing their equipment sooner, so then ours is better.” After years of waiting, Chebeague is also in line to receive a new truck next year – the first time since 1972 that a new vehicle was bought for the department. The department currently has five trucks, mostly from the 1980s. “People wonder why we need so many vehicles out here,” explains Calder, “and I try to explain that what we’ve got is it. If the tide was right, we might be able to barge one over if necessary, but that could take at least an hour.”
While Calder is confident of his department’s abilities – “We are capable of handling anything that comes our way” – like many island chiefs he is concerned about the number of members he has. “There are two reasons why our numbers have gone down: First, we used to have people becoming firemen because their fathers were. They grew up with it. Now, kids are leaving the island after high school, so we don’t have as many young people around. Second, people don’t have time anymore for the training that’s required. After working 50-70 hour weeks, the last thing you want to do is put in another 5-10 hours in training. When people ask me about joining up, I can see the fireworks go right out of their eyes when they start hearing about all the training.” Currently, Chebeague has about 20 members, 15 that Calder considers very active, and around six that are certified for an airpack. “But sometimes, only two or three will be around during the day. What happens if we have a fire then?”
Like Chief Clark on Long, Calder also would like to see cooperation continue among the islands. He was extremely disappointed at the failure at dispatch level for the Great Diamond fire. “We thought we had a good system set up, but somehow it fell through the cracks and we weren’t notified. It was a little disheartening to know that the system we had set up didn’t work.” How-ever, Calder feels better about a false alarm on nearby Sturdivant Island – also part of the town of Cumberland – on July 4. A structure fire was called into Cumberland’s dispatch, which went on to notify Portland, Long Island, and Chebeague as expected. The fire was discovered to be merely a controlled brush fire without a permit, and all departments returned to their home islands.
“I think we’ve got a decent mutual aid setup between the islands. If we find out Long needs help, everyone knows what to do and who to call for a boat ride. If we know there is a fire but we haven’t heard anything within five or ten minutes, we’ll go over anyway just in case. Better to go than not, especially since we all have limited crews.”
Last in a series of reports on island fire departments.