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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing
Article Summaries |
Thanking Those Volunteer Heroes
by Esther J. Perne Long before 9/11 and long after the summer season ends, there is a group of people who help keep this region safe, enjoyable and secure. Ready to hit the floor running in the dark of the night, willing to take risks to help others, responding to situations that require equipment and expertise that have involved hours of practice, these are the volunteers who fight fires and rush to emergencies. They also join every parade, visit schools, participate in patriotic ceremonies, deliver Santa Claus, and roll up their sleeves to barbecue chicken, roast a pig, put on a car show When time passes tranquilly, we tend to forget why we live so worry free. When an emergency arises, we remember Historically, many of Maine's towns were destroyed, completely or partially, by fire several times over. Serious, sometimes tragic fires were a way of life although water was just a short walk away. Wooden structures and faulty heating systems may have been the culprits, but lack of organized firefighting contributed heavily to the loss. With buckets and wet blankets, just plain folks did their best. Fire departments were slow to develop in the early settlements. Oakland had the first one in the Belgrade region, starting in 1880. Mount Vernon, which had been destroyed several times, had its own department by 1925. All the towns and villages had organized departments by the 1950's. Although every small town fire department and rescue service operates differently, they still are fueled by just plain folks making this part of the world a better place to live, people who put hours of unpaid time into training, meetings, preparedness, professionalism. In Belgrade alone there are over twenty EMT's based throughout the town. Equipped with oxygen and "jump kits," they are ready to respond directly — without having to go to the central fire station first — to an emergency from wherever they live or work. There are advantages to this direct response: a choking victim, for example, has a window of rescue of four to six minutes. Each of these volunteers has put in 115 hours of training to become a basic EMT. To move to the next level — which is their goal — would take another 140 hours per volunteer, more than half in a hospital. In 2003 Belgrade volunteers responded to 220 medical rescue calls — roughly 64% of the total of 345 for all Fire & Rescue responses. They also responded 47 times to the Lakes Regional Mutual Aid group, an impressive network of other area towns that, combined, provides structure fire response and water availability that far exceeds the capabilities of some much larger towns. The training opportunities through this group have enabled Belgrade firefighters to attend Firefighter I certification classes, a course that in 2003 culminated in a live burn on the West Road. More volunteers are currently enrolled in a class sponsored by the Oakland Fire Department. On Saturday, August 7, the Belgrade Fire & Rescue Association will sponsor its annual Bean Hole Bean Supper from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Center for All Seasons. What appears to be a simple and simply delicious meal and social outing is actually far more. It is a community tradition that the Association is, thankfully, preserving and it is a fund-raiser for better, more advanced equipment such as thermal imaging cameras in each of the Belgrade Fire Stations and a new Jaws of Life. Although everyone appreciates and admires the dedicated individuals who will be spending hours planning and preparing the bean hole bean meal, including firing up the pit with an impressive seven cords of wood, perhaps it's time to say so in a tangible way. Attending the supper will put Belgrade Fire & Rescue a little bit closer to that third camera or the state-of-the-art jaws and will show support for the generous volunteers who stand behind the safety and security of the community. | ||
