The firefighters from Pownal, New Gloucester, North Yarmouth, Durham, and Gray train together at Pineland on October 6. Here, the fire fighters enter a burning structure that has carefully controlled flames alight in several rooms. The "rooms" can be changed with moveable partitions to create an ever shifting labyrinth inside as different teams complete different training tasks.

Sharing across borders
Regionalism concept alive and well with Fire Departments

First in a series examining current and future examples of ‘regionalism
By Elizabeth Prata Salvetti

When the wall at the Windham High School collapsed, the call went out to Windham Fire and Rescue Department. The crew, led by Windham Fire-Rescue Chief Charlie Hammond, responded immediately and was occupied at the site, when a second call came in. This time, it was a substantial woods fire in South Windham. Gorham’s Chief Robert Lefebvre took the call, and was command chief for both his units and the Windham personnel not at the High School. The crews worked like a well-oiled machine, and there were no problems with Windham’s personnel taking orders from another town’s Chief.

Sound like a fairy tale? It is not. It’s just business as usual at the Windham and Gorham Fire and Rescue Departments.

Among area towns there have been efforts of working jointly to a greater degree than local governments have traditionally been able or willing to do. The recently formed Central Corridor Coalition, a group composed of elected representatives from New Gloucester, Gray, Pownal, Raymond, North Yarmouth, Windham, and Cumberland, along with Maine Turnpike representatives, Cumberland County government, and personnel from the State Planning Office, have forged a tentative union that, after a year of progress, seems intended to continue. However, to the Windham and Gorham Fire and Rescue Departments, joint leadership and cooperation between towns is nothing new. They’ve been doing it for almost a hundred years.

"The hose company at the mill responded to fires on either side of the bridge as far back as 1917," Chief Charlie Hammond explained. Fifteen years ago, Westbrook, Gorham, and Windham began training together. We go through the rookie program together." Hammond said that at that time, Gorham had 5 or 6 firefighters that needed training. Westbrook had 5 or 6. Windham had the same amount. "It made no sense for us to individually pay an instructor $25 per hour for five people to take a class when we could pool our resources and have 15 at once take the class." Joint training was born.

New Gloucester Fire and Rescue Chief Bruce Tupper said that, "Last May the Chiefs and Officers from Durham, Pownal, North Yarmouth, Gray and New Gloucester met. We talked extensively about automatic aid. We agreed that assistance really blossoms when training comes first, and when we train together it is even better." A joint training exercise was proposed, and "They were agreeable right away, at the first meeting," Tupper said. The training exercise was scheduled for October 6 at the Pineland Campus in New Gloucester.


The fire fighters during a training session, inside the fire blast trailer. With the doors closed, the trailer is pitch dark, smoky, hot, and closely simulates conditions inside a burning structure. They were doing a flash-over to learn fire behavior.


Tupper gave examples of how, if the Departments work together, it makes a safer environment for the residents and businesses the Departments serve. "The Auburn Department had a concern about the Danville Station, which had no hydrants. New Gloucester can get there faster because we’re closer, and we have two pumpers." Tupper continued, "Pineland has reconstructed the campus buildings for use as a business park. The buildings are tall, and Gray has a 100 foot ladder, we don’t. Their response to an activation here at Pineland would be critical." Whether because of proximity or equipment, area Fire Departments are responding on a more frequent basis to each other’s calls, and joint training becomes even more important.
"It’s not that we can’t handle it, it’s because we can do it safer. We all have the same goal- respond faster with the best equipment for the situation," Tupper said.

At the October 6 day-long training exercise, Training Officer Captain Mark Bosse said that, "When we’re all at a scene it’s more efficient to have trained together because we know how each of us will respond. We have to know what each person is going to do." He said the object of that day’s exercise was to learn ventilation, structural fire attack, search and rescue, and fire ground evolutions such as ladder work. As dozens of Fire Fighters either rested in the staging area after an exercise, or prepared for the next one, seeing the profusion of red fire trucks, equipment, hoses, and activity on a sunny Sunday, knowing this was the only day off for most of the volunteers, was impressive.

Below, the board shows only the next few events on tap for the fire fighters. A lot to do!

Some Departments are now extending the concept of regionalism beyond joint training and shared equipment. Hammond said that Windham and Gorham Fire-Rescue Departments are sharing capital equipment that has been budgeted for separately. "We have a truck that belongs to both Windham and Gorham. We share the capital expense, jointly use the trucks, and interchange vehicles." He said that both towns pay for several pieces of equipment, and "We’ve been doing it for a long time, over thirty years."



What’s new this year, though is that for the first time Windham and Gorham are going to budget for equipment together. "It’s in our capital plans and we’ve presented it to our communities," he said. Hammond used an example of an aerial ladder truck as a reason why joint budgeting makes sense for the two communities.

"Together we cover 100 square miles. Gorham has the University campus with 8-storey buildings. We have the prison in Windham. Having a 100 foot ladder truck helps reduce ISO (insurance) ratings, and makes for safe response. But a 100-foot ladder trucks costs about $700,000 to $800,000. We just don’t have that much money." Sharing the capital outlay cuts the expense for each community in half.

Of turf battles, Hammond said, "People need to drop the egos. The only person that needs to win is the customer, the person who made the call. That person gets the best I have to give and I know I get the sane from Gorham Chief Robert Lefebvre," Hammond said. Tupper agreed. Of joint training and close working relationships, Tupper said "It’s time we swallow our pride and do it, and we are."

Hammond said that there are several other advantages to maintaining close working relationships across town borders. There are tremendous opportunities to earn grant money from the State and federal levels.

"Are the Feds going to give $200,000 to a Department that has 20 members, or are they going to give $200,000 to a coalition that has 200 members and a demonstrated working relationship? Giving a grant to the coalition has more bang for the buck." Hammond should know, he listed several grants awards the Windham-Gorham department has recently earned: a $200,000 FIRE grant, $125,000 for the HazMat team, and several others.



Windham Fire Chief Charlie Hammond, in front of one of the trucks at the Public Safety Building in Windham.









"Let’s take advantage of each other," Tupper said. He described the five towns’ effotrts to establish close working relationships, and complimented Gray, North Yarmouth, Durham, New Gloucester, and Pownal with "trying to break barriers. If there are walls, let’s build a bridge through it." The joint training exercise at Pineland was an example of those first steps toward cementing a close working relationship among Fire Departments in the region.