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The Harpswell Select Board appointed Frank True interim fire administrator on Thursday, June 4.
True, a per diem municipal firefighter and a volunteer with Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue, retired last year from a career as a fire chief and a high-ranking firefighting official with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
True became a professional firefighter in 1987 and moved to Harpswell in 1989. He started serving as a volunteer with Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue in the 1990s and became a U.S. Navy fire lieutenant in 2001, serving at the Brunswick Naval Air Station.
He joined the Department of Veterans Affairs as fire chief for its Togus Medical Center in Augusta in November 2005. In May of 2016, he was promoted to a role overseeing all of the federal agency’s fire departments. From Washington, D.C., he directed roughly 350 firefighters and 20 departments and oversaw a $45 million budget. He retired from the post last year.
After Harpswell’s previous fire administrator, Mike Drake, died unexpectedly on May 9 at the age of 52, True was approached about the interim position.
“I think, unfortunately, with the passing of Mike, of course the town is going to be in a little bit of a transition,” True said.
He said he is “uniquely qualified to fill in” and “keep the ship moving forward,” citing his nearly 40-year career in firefighting and his connections to Harpswell.
Like past fire administrators, True will also serve as the town’s emergency management agent and fire warden.
Town Administrator Kristi Eiane recommended True to the Select Board.
“His knowledge of Harpswell and of our local emergency response services and his ability to work effectively with other firefighters, first responders, our three volunteer departments, municipal officials and community partners, make him particularly well-qualified to serve in this interim capacity,” she said in her recommendation. True will earn a salary of $67,000 per year.
True said that firefighting is his passion, and he doesn’t think of it as work.
“It’s been my whole life. It’s been my career. I really enjoy doing it,” he said.
True said he plans to meet with the chiefs of Harpswell’s volunteer departments to support them through a season of grief.
He started work as interim fire administrator the week of June 7.
