"That's Just What You Do"
Jai Higgins, Beloved Firefighter Retires
BAR HARBOR—For 33 years, Captain Jai Higgins has put out fires, rescued animals, kept fellow firefighters safe, and served the Bar Harbor and island community.
“I knew from my first emergency call that this is what I wanted for a career and it’s been a real pleasure to serve the residents and visitors of Bar Harbor,” Captain Higgins said on Facebook.
That first emergency call? It was a story. Captain Higgins has a lot of them. For this one, his dad, Leo Higgins, was on the call force.
“All his buddies were on the call force. My uncle was chief. I kind of grew up around the fire department,” Higgins said. He’s the son of Leo Higgins and Edith Stanwood.
When Jai started with the department, Royal Higgins, more well known as Butch, was still the chief and there was a cellar fire down on Kennebec Street.
Back then, the old ambulance with the extra SCBA gear was parked down at the post office. Captain Higgins had to run down to get gear.
“By the time we got all geared up, the other firefighters had put out the fire,” he said. “It was fun though.”
That fun carried him through 33 years.
“Jai has been a valuable Bar Harbor Fire Department member for 33 years. He joined the department as a call firefighter in 1992 and became a full-time employee in the fall of 1995. His knowledge, leadership, and dedication will be greatly missed. The Fire Department wishes him all the best in his retirement, and we look forward to him regularly visiting the fire station,” said Chief Matt Bartlett.
Last week, Captain Higgins retired from the Bar Harbor Fire Department due to back issues and though he’s earned that retirement, the department says he will be missed.
“Your years of dedication, leadership, and hard work have meant so much to the department and the community. You will be greatly missed, but we wish you all the best as you take on this next chapter of your life,” the department’s Facebook post reads.
The moment the Facebook post went up, the accolades came rolling in.
“Thanks for helping get this guy started on my path of firefighting over 20 years ago,” Jeremy Clark wrote.
“Captain Jai M. Higgins, what a pleasure it was to know you, laugh with you, sit on the ‘bench’ and chat with you. You were a special friend, & captain to my husband Jason Dyer that was on your shift,” Karen Harper-Dyer wrote.
“The only thing I ask of you now is to stop by the station often and keep sharing all of the stories and the knowledge you have gained through the years,” said Jr Gray.
“Best of the best!” said Matt Horton.
A great leader, a great mentor, a great man: the praise had a definite drumbeat to it, which is only appropriate for a man who not only is a drummer, but whose life’s work has been to the steady rhythm of helping, of service, of community.
“I took an EMT class one winter because I didn’t have anything to do,” Captain Higgins said. “Emergency services was where I wanted to be. It was kind of a follow-up from serving in the Navy.”
He said he was lost for a couple years, but then he settled down, found the fire department and raised his family with Lynn Kenison-Higgins in the town he was born in, that he grew up in, that he loves.
“It was back in the days of when you knew everybody. I’ve seen a lot of dynamic change in the town. It’s not that the people don’t appreciate the service, but when I first started we were going out to help people that we knew,” he said.
Being a firefighter in a town on this island was always more than fighting fires. It was also about taking care of everyone. He can remember shoveling people’s back doors for them so that they could get out of their houses. They were people he knew all his growing up.
And now?
“It’s still the same business. You’re going out and helping out people and visitors,” he said.
Two of the younger firefighters called him up one day and asked him if it would be okay if they went and bought a birthday cake for an older lady who they knew was alone.
“That’s what we’re here for,” he told them.
Higgins has been here for everyone for years and he’s been part of the Bar Harbor Fire Department’s legacy of care, training, and community.
He’s helped new firefighters learn the ropes. He’s taught them how to keep the hose in its appropriate place, how to wedge your body between the framing of a house even in full gear, how to manage an ice rescue, how to run the pump, and how to worry about that elderly neighbor alone on her birthday.
He has led the department in other ways, too, including winning the first place in the amateur competition at the Island Chowder Cook-off challenge in 2018. He spoke at too many Memorial Day services to count, offering up poems and words of comfort and remembrance and praise. He passed the boot, encouraging people to fill it, for muscular dystrophy research.
He just gave and did and cooked and mentored every shift he was on and in his times off, over and over again.
Jai started early, earning bear badges and other honors even in his cub scout troop back in the early 1970s. As a young camper at the YMCA Camp Jordan, he was honored for his exemplary behavior. He won an ice fishing derby in Eagle Lake with a 8.09-lb togue back in 1992. He knows all the good spots for bass. He’s played stages across the island. He’s consoled and advised and teased and told some good stories. He’s cooked. He’s lobstered. He’s painted. He’s served the country via the U.S. Navy. Captain Higgins has done it all.
In 2021, the department recognized Captain Jai Higgins for his 25 years of full-time service to the Bar Harbor Fire Department.
“During that time, Jai has continually improved not only the department itself, by sharing his knowledge and compassion with every member since then, but he has also been invaluable in the day to day operations needed to make this department what it is today. Jai is one of the most well respected men to have joined this department and we salute him on his 25 years of service,” the department stated.
“Once you start …” he trailed off. “I love the job. It’s the best job in the world. And if any firefighter out there doesn’t think it’s the best job in the world, they’re probably not a firefighter,“ he said. “Helping somebody you know if they’re sick and can’t take care of themselves? When you help other people, it helps you feel better. It’s the greatest job in the world. Just the camaraderie. I would laugh with my wife. It’s like going to deer camp for 24 hours.”
He loves to fish. He worked part-time at Bay Ferries last summer and he hopes to do so again. But the thing is that Jai is and always will be Captain Higgins, a man who has devoted his life to his family, his fire department, and his friends.
“It’s been a pleasure serving the people of Bar Harbor. It’s a great town. It’s a great community. When someone’s in need, the people of Bar Harbor will pony up and take care of that person,” he said.
That, after all, is what we’re here for.
The cover photo is from Jai’s Facebook page.
This story was updated on February 21 at 8:33 a.m. to include a quote from Matt Bartlett.
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Thank you, Jai, for keeping us safe all those years!
A pleasure to work with you Jai