A Community Prepared.
Tremont’s First Responders Day Strengthens Safety and Connection.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.
TREMONT—A plethora of volunteers spent hours of their Saturday in Tremont with one overall goal in mind.
They were all there to help their neighbors and friends be a little bit safer in various different ways.
They want to be more prepared for some of the things life might throw at them.
“Our goal was to send at least one person home today with the basic knowledge, equipment or skills to improve their individual safety, instill confidence and raise awareness to community emergency preparedness,” the Tremont Volunteer Fire Department wrote in a social media post after the event.
They likely did.
People took home first-aid kits from Carroll Drug Store. They checked that their fire extinguishers worked. They took home emergency fire blankets and Fire Chief Keith Higgins taught them how to use them.
“Fire extinguishers are not cheap so most people don't just try them out. Their first time is usually in an emergency when they're not inclined to read the instructions on the label. I wanted to hold a hands-on fire extinguisher training, but where were we going to get loaded extinguishers to train on?” said Tremont Volunteer Fire Department’s Alan Feuer, Tuesday.
Most people, he said, just look at the pressure gauge on an extinguisher to judge whether it's usable.
“They don't realize that after a dozen years or so, even if the extinguisher is still pressurized, the chemicals have probably degraded. When they reach for the extinguisher in a moment of need, it just might not perform,” Feuer said.
That worries firefighters like Feuer.
“By offering to exchange old extinguishers for new ones, not only would we remove unreliable extinguishers from service, we'd have extinguishers that could (be) used for training,” he explained.
The idea for the day came from community.
“One year ago, a small group consisting of people from Healthy Acadia, A Climate to Thrive, Tremont Fire, Tremont Sustainability Committee, and SWH/Tremont Ambulance met to discuss how a StrengthenME Grant being administered by Healthy Acadia might be used to promote the well-being (of) our community,” Feuer said. “I presented my idea for a fire extinguisher exchange and First Responders Day was born.”
At one information table, Raney Bench and Jennifer Booher talked about sea rise and asked people to mark on maps where they’d seen or remembered or worried about the king tides or other water events damaging roads, homes, or town infrastructure.
“Water has memory,” Bench said, referencing how if water follows a path once, it will likely find that path again.
People do, too.
And so do communities.
The First Responders Day was creating a path toward safety, giving participants tools to remember that path.
“Each of the participating groups had goals for the day that aligned with its mission. For Healthy Acadia, goals revolved around personal resiliency and emergency preparedness. A Climate to Thrive sought to inform about services and grants for improving energy efficiency and protecting homes from severe weather,” Feuer said.
“For Tremont Fire, besides enhancing home fire safety, we also wanted to remind residents that just as they depend on the fire department, the fire department depends on them,” he continued. “Unlike the other departments on MDI, Tremont Fire is wholly volunteer.”
The Trenton School PTO, Hansen’s Outpost, and Eat-a-Pita fed attendees. Southwest Harbor police officers hung out. People joked, laughed, remembered old times, made new plans.
They helped each other.
Dr. Jane Disney from the MDI Bio Lab talked about forever chemicals (PFAS) that’s in some Tremont drinking water and what to do about it. Fire Department Lt. Bill Weir talked about water gear to stay safe. Healthy Acadia and A Climate to Thrive hosted information tables.
People could peer inside an ambulance, hop into a fire truck, or see all the gear and learn all about amateur radio’s role in emergencies.
“We are grateful to all of the amazing community members that came out to observe, learn, listen and ask questions to our members, guest speakers and event partners,” the department wrote on its Facebook page.
“I’d love to take some credit for this idea but it was really spun out of an idea members of Climate to Thrive had, to reach a broad Tremont audience. The idea was to showcase a collaboration of the people, organizations, and businesses that play a role in the health and wellness of our local MDI communities,” Chief Higgins said, “Volunteers took advantage of the public engagement to add some extra opportunities to share fire safety devices, promote 911 street address signs, handout first aid kits and much more.”
The sponsors also helped make the event, the chief said.
”The project molded into something spectacular. Yes, I would have liked to have seen a larger participation in the activities and presentations, but in reality, we all left with the feeling that we made some great personal connections too, and the participant feedback was positive. The perfect weather, amazing food and talented musicians aligned to make the day complete,” Chief Higgins said.
Photos: Carrie Jones/Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE:
To learn more about volunteering at the fire department, click here.
To learn more about Southwest Harbor/Tremont Ambulance service, click here.
To learn more about Healthy Acadia or A Climate to Thrive or Mount Desert Island Historical Society, click on their names.
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