Young and old, the men and women who volunteer for Harpswell’s three community fire departments share a common mission — to help neighbors in their hour of greatest need.
On a recent Wednesday evening at the Orr’s Island Fire Station, volunteer emergency medical technicians Cindy Bessmer and Mason Smith worked with Lt. Paul Kittle to make sure the ambulance was ready — batteries charged, oxygen tanks full, medications up to date — for any emergency.
Bessmer is a 30-year veteran of the Orr’s and Bailey Islands Fire Department. She first volunteered after someone knocked on the door of her workplace on Lowell’s Cove and said a man had suffered a heart attack in his truck nearby. The bystander pleaded, “Does anyone here know CPR?”
Bessmer did, and she tried her best to help revive the man. He did not survive, but Bessmer emerged with a resolve to help a community force that, in that era, had only a handful of volunteers, primitive communication technology and a hearse doubling as an ambulance.
“It’s neighbors helping neighbors,” said Bessmer, a Bowdoin College retiree and Orr’s Island resident who is known for her gentle touch with people in crisis. “How can you not step up if you’re able to step up?”
Working at her side, the 23-year-old Smith said he joined the force two years ago after his best friend died of heart failure just two weeks before he was to marry Smith’s sister. It happened just as Smith was set to surprise his future brother-in-law with a bachelor party.
“I joined to try and prevent that tragedy from happening to another family,” said Smith, who recently earned his EMT certification. “It’s gratifying to see someone in dire need of help and by the time we are done, they are significantly better.”
At a time when Harpswell’s three departments are struggling to bolster an aging volunteer force, a small but growing number of young recruits is providing a welcome infusion of energy, commitment and growing skill.
At the Orr’s Island station this evening, veteran firefighters, drivers and EMTs were joined by a cluster of young people taking part in Harpswell’s new Fire and Rescue Accession Program. Aimed at 16- to 30-year olds in the town’s three fire districts — Harpswell Neck, Cundy’s Harbor, and Orr’s and Bailey Islands — the program is off to a strong start.
“The goal is to get them engaged, active and on track to get their firefighter certification or their EMT license,” said Sean Hall, assistant chief of the islands department and one of the town’s two full-time firefighter-EMTs.
“There’s a refrain that we don’t have young people in town, that we can’t sustain and move forward,” said Hall. “It can be done.”
Hall has worked with fellow first responder Meriel Longley to develop the program, which has so far seen three recruits graduate from the fire academy and one earn their EMT license — with more on the way.
Wahid Leeman, of Orr’s Island, is one of the younger members of the next generation. A 2023 graduate of Brunswick High and Region 10 Technical, Leeman had initially planned to join the Marines, serve his country and see the world.
But after trying his hand at fighting fires and helping in medical emergencies, he’s decided to build a career closer to home. Leeman has already earned certifications in fighting wildfires and driving emergency vehicles, and is set to begin his EMT training program this summer.
“I’m helping people on what is possibly the worst day of their life,” he said.
Volunteers of all ages regularly gather at their home stations not only for training, but also to make sure the ambulances, trucks, pumps and other emergency gear are in top shape. On this evening, Leeman, 19, was working with 57-year-old Ted Merriman to check most every inch of a fire truck at the Orr’s Island station.
A retired telecommunications executive, Merriman serves not only as a volunteer responder but also as president of the board at the Orr’s and Bailey Islands department. He said there’s nothing like working with a group of neighbors who come from all walks of life — plumbers, electricians, lobstermen, military officers and businesspeople, working and retired — to serve their community.
“In the C-suite, you identify a problem and form a committee,” with real solutions often long in the making, said Merriman. “Here, we just get it done.”
