Harpswell’s top fire and rescue officials presented their best arguments Tuesday for the necessity of a central municipal station and urged residents to approve the $6 million project at the annual Town Meeting in March.
At a public hearing on the proposal, the chiefs of Harpswell’s three volunteer fire departments and the town’s fire administrator agreed that many volunteers are getting too old to fight fires. Most younger volunteers can’t commit to the lengthy training required to replace them, the officials said.
“Cundy’s Harbor has nine firefighters, not including myself,” said Benjamin Wallace Jr., chief of both the Cundy’s Harbor Volunteer Fire Department and the Orr’s and Bailey Islands Fire Department. “Five of them are active as firefighters. One is 64, two are 68, and one is 71 years old.”
David Mercier, fire chief at Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue, added: “The short answer is, we’re aging out.”
The officials said a central facility on Mountain Road to house municipal firefighters would slash response times to many locations. The estimated impact on property taxes — at least in the first year — would be $20 per $100,000 of assessed value.
The town’s architectural firm has said Harpswell may be eligible for up to $2 million in federal grants to offset building costs. But on Tuesday, Andrew Hyland, principal of Port City Architecture, said it’s unclear whether those grants would remain available under the Trump administration.
Many of the speakers’ arguments echoed those included in a report issued by fire officials in late January. It was drafted in response to criticism, mostly from the Orr’s and Bailey department’s board members, that the central facility isn’t needed and would deter volunteerism.
At Tuesday’s hearing, local fire officials said the three volunteer departments would continue to be essential, even if the central station is approved.
Residents will decide the issue at Town Meeting on Saturday, March 8, if the Harpswell Select Board approves a proposed warrant article on Thursday, Feb. 13. Another draft article would add funding to increase daytime municipal firefighter staffing from five days a week to seven.
The fire chiefs have scheduled an informational meeting for 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 23, at Elijah Kellogg Church, 917 Harpswell Neck Road, for residents to learn more about why they support the central station proposal.
Harvey Pough, the Harpswell Neck department’s rescue chief, said the central station would put nearly all Harpswell properties within five minutes of a station, which would lower response times and the price of home insurance for many residents.
He said the majority of recent home construction in Harpswell has been north of the existing fire stations, in areas that would be better served by the proposed central facility.
Merely having firefighters on duty at the central station would shorten response times, Pough said, because volunteers require extra time to travel from home to their respective stations before responding to an emergency.
“The central station is going to give us the best times all over town,” he said.
The fire and rescue officials hinted at a long-term future in which Harpswell’s municipal firefighters respond to emergencies from the central station and are met on scene by volunteers from the three independent stations. The volunteers would continue to provide vital support but wouldn’t enter buildings to fight fires.
“We absolutely need the volunteers,” said town Fire Administrator and Emergency Management Agent Michael Drake. “They save the town a ton of money.”
Wallace said the greatest need during a fire is for people to work dry hydrants and move water, which older volunteers can handle. But many are losing the strength and stamina to fight interior fires, he said.
The officials cited two recent emergencies that took upward of 20 minutes to respond to because municipal firefighters were being housed on the opposite side of town from where the incidents occurred. That would never happen with a central station, they said.
A handful of critics at the hearing remained opposed, with some approaching the podium multiple times to denounce the proposal. They included a few residents of Orr’s and Bailey islands, as well as Great Island resident Ellen Glew, who said she lives “right next door” to where the proposed station would be built.
Glew, who said she moved from Massachusetts to Harpswell in 2020, called for the town to conduct a long-term fire and rescue feasibility study before taking any further action on the central station proposal.
Other residents criticized the town for not having a backup plan in case one of the three volunteer departments were to shut down.
“If they do fail, the only other possible solution is staffing centrally,” responded Jonathan Burbank, president of the board at the Cundy’s Harbor department. “It’s the only solution that makes any sense at all.”
UPDATE: An earlier version of this story summarized the fire officials’ presentations as their “final arguments.” The story was posted before information about a follow-up meeting came to light.
