FREEPORT

Freeport Fire Chief Darrel Fournier was just 12 when he found himself along for the ride to a large barn fire with his uncle, Bud Fournier, who was Freeport’s deputy fire chief at the time.

Watching the operation, Fournier said he knew he wanted to go into the fire service. Upon entering high school, he joined the department’s junior firefighter program and now 42 years later, he will retire from the fire service.

At age 18, Fournier became a member of Freeport’s call department. In 1983, he became the first full-time firefighter in Freeport and two years later, at age 28, he became the town’s first full-time fire chief.

One of the largest fires he responded to was the fire on Sept. 21, 1981, that burned the Holden Block in downtown Freeport. Fournier said someone had broken into a store and set the fire to cover their tracks.

With the help of the department’s mutual aid partners, firefighters removed 60 people from the upstairs apartments. A lieutenant at the time, he remembers himself and another firefighter carried two people out of a building.

“Everyone did a great job,” he said.

It was also a good example of the importance of training, teamwork and trust among firefighters as he remembers he got turned around and thought the hallway he was headed down was toward the exit. His fellow firefighter called out and got him going in the right direction.

Unlike what Hollywood sometimes depicts, “fire is very black and very hot,” Fournier said. Fortunately now there are thermal imaging cameras that help firefighters see through the smoke, which is full of cancer causing toxins which is a health challenge firefighters face.

After he was appointed fire chief in 1985, Fournier said much of his work for the next five years involved reviewing the construction that arose in the aftermath of the Holden Block fire. He made sure commercial buildings installed sprinkler and fire alarm systems.

“We haven’t had a major fire downtown, so it shows if you invest in fire protection you do get a return,” Fournier said.

The town currently has the highest fire safety rating in its history, which can help businesses and residents get better insurance rates.

In 1990, Fournier left Freeport for a position as a fire chief in Waterville. He was looking for a challenge and Waterville had an active career department where Fournier learned a lot. After nine years with Waterville, former Freeport town manager Dale Olmstead offered Fournier the chief position again and Fournier took the opportunity to return home.

Like fire departments across the country, Fournier said Freeport Fire Department struggles to recruit and retain members. There are three career staff firefighter paramedics who work a rotating schedule of 24-hour shifts. In addition to a staff member on duty 24 hours a day, there are three per diem firefighter-paramedics or firefighter-EMTs working at all times.

“It’s a big struggle,” he said.

He points to regionalization of fire services as one way to help control costs and maintain a high level of fire protection.

Fournier won’t forget the time he was part of a Maine team put together by the Maine Emergency Management Agency which responded to Hurricane Sandy. He represented the fire service, working with the New York City Fire Department and conducting search and rescue operations with the New York National Guard in the Rockaways.

Much of the work he’s done has been far beyond the front lines of the fires he’s fought or emergency calls he’s handled. He has served as president of the New England Association of Fire Chiefs and was appointed by the International Association of Fire Chiefs to serve on the committee that worked to get a statewide mutual aid law passed in Maine about five years ago, which essentially gets resources where they’re needed quicker, Fournier said. He also served for eight years as the New England representative to the International Code Council.

Being a fire chief isn’t easy, but there are many rewards when helping people, Fournier said.

He has been married for 40 years, has two children and five grandchildren. His family would say he has missed a lot of school events and birthday parties. He missed the last two Christmases due to emergency calls. But that is part of the job.

“Firefighters like to fix things, so we get called to all kinds of situations and when you can have a successful outcome, that certainly is very rewarding,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about is helping people and this job certainly creates the opportunity to do that.”

After his last day on May 6, Fournier will be fixing up a house with his son to flip, then plans to relax and enjoy the grandchildren and his camp on Lake Moxie.

dmoore@timesrecord.com