Education, appreciation mark Wiscasset Fire Department open house

SUSAN JOHNS
Thu, 10/13/2016 - 8:45am
Attendees watch firefighters use equipment at the Wiscasset Fire Department’s open house Oct. 12. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Wiscasset’s Ruby Sherman, 2, adjusts a souvenir hat while taking in the Wiscasset Fire Department’s open house on her father Kevin Sherman’s shoulders. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Brooke Lincoln, 8, of Wiscasset climbs out of the Damariscotta Fire Department’s smoke trailer. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Wiscasset firefighters show how they open up a car, a measure emergency personnel use to free trapped occupants from vehicles. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Wiscasset firefighters clean up around the car they took apart at the open house. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Mary Lou Gustafson and husband John Merry, deputy Wiscasset fire chief, and their lab-retriever Lily have a family moment at the department’s open house. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper

    Brooke Lincoln, 8, of Wiscasset said she coughed when she was going though Damariscotta Fire Department’s smoke trailer at Wiscasset Fire Department’s open house Oct. 12. And she learned to stay lower than the smoke and try not to breathe it in, the Wiscasset Elementary School third grader said.

    She had just climbed down from the trailer’s back window and returned to her mother’s side. Kristy Lincoln said her children look forward to the open house every year for the tee shirts, junior firefighter hats and activities. She appreciates the department holding it because it reinforces their understanding of fire safety. “It brings a lot of discussion at home afterwards.”

    The family’s fire safety plan includes having a spot in the driveway where everyone knows to meet after exiting the home, she said.

    In addition to the Damariscotta department, Edgecomb, Alna, Dresden, Westport Island, Woolwich, Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor fire departments and Wiscasset Ambulance Service joined Wiscasset firefighters for the evening event that drew hundreds of attendees. The departments all try to get to one another’s open houses, Wiscasset Deputy Fire Chief John Merry explained.

    Merry, joined by wife Mary Lou Gustafson and their lab-retriever Lily, said the annual event is aimed at spreading awareness about fire safety, but he added it’s also a chance to show the public the department appreciates the support it gets, like with equipment purchases. The town budgeted about $28,000 for battery-powered extrication tools, which have more torque than the department’s hydraulic ones and can be carried to a vehicle far off the road, Merry said.

    Mrs. Wiscasset International 2017 Sharon Jacques and other spectators, including a couple of children on adults’ shoulders, watched from behind orange traffic cones as Wiscasset firefighters demonstrated using the new equipment. They were taking apart a Subaru Legacy that Kevin Sherman said his father’s business, Norm’s Used Cars in Wiscasset, donated. The business gives the department cars to help with training, Sherman said, with daughter Ruby, 2, on his shoulders.

    The department appreciated having the car for the event, Merry, interviewed separately, said. “We take pride in the support the community shows us,” he said. “It means a lot to the guys,” he added, looking around the municipal building parking lot filled with event–goers, emergency responders and a line of fire trucks with their lights beaming.

    Most Popular