Our Fire Fighters - REAL Local Heroes.

Lest we forget
It takes a lot of courage to run INTO a burning building. Bill Johnston showed an enormous amount of courage going inside the building in Mexico to fight the fire and make sure no victims were inside. It took even more courage for Rumford Fire Deputy Chief Chris Bryant, Rumford Firefighter Ed Carey and Mexico Firefighter Allen Chartier to rush in to dig him out. After all, the roof of the building had just partially collapsed on top of Bill. It had to be clear to everyone that the danger of going inside that building was extremely high. These Firemen willingly put their own lives in danger to save a “brother”. They often put their own life in danger to save the life and property of all of us here in town.

Firefighting is a dangerous job. That’s why our firemen train like they do and why there have been such trouble with keeping a highly trained call force in town. It takes a huge commitment to stay up with the training to be a volunteer firefighter. Not many have the time or the energy for such a commitment.

Our firefighters don’t do this job because of financial rewards. They could make more money in other professions. They do it because of the type of people they are. They do it because they want to feel good about their chosen profession. They want to help the people of this community. They want to save lives, even if it means putting their own life in danger. Anyone that knows the Firefighters in our surrounding communities can see that in these people. The same can be said for our local Police Department and Ambulance personnel.

Our local Firemen have been getting a really raw deal lately. They are having to suffer through having one of our Selectmen, Mark Belanger, filing a formal complaint against them for endorsing a candidate other than himself. They have been subjected to ridicule and attacks on a particular website in town. They have seen their budget cut severely and repeatedly. It has to be demoralizing. Yet they have maintained themselves as the professionals they truly are, risking their own lives to save others.

They are true heroes in our community. We at the RFP want to publicly thank them for their selflessness and let them know how thankful we are that they are here. If you have a minute, stop by the fire station to offer some quick words of support. I’m sure they could use it.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bill Johnson for a complete and speedy recovery. Our thanks go out to him and all of our local heroes that worked to save him and that work to keep us safe on a daily basis.