| by Captain/Paramedic Hale Fitzgerald |
2022 was another busy year for the New Gloucester Fire Rescue Department. While we were able to return to many operations as normal following pandemic restrictions we faced in 2021, our call volume continued to rise. 2022 surpassed 2021 as our busiest year on record. Throughout the year, the dedicated men and women of the New Gloucester Fire Rescue Department worked hard to ensure the health and safety of our community members and visitors.
Incident Statistics
2022 surpassed our previous high for call volume, 2021, with a total of 681 calls for service. Of these 681 calls for service, 470 were medical in nature (including motor vehicle accidents) and 211 were fire-related. The breakdown for calls in 2021 was 667 total calls for service (503 EMS calls and 164 fire calls).
Below is a graph showing the breakdown of our last five years, with the last three being our busiest.
Here are specifics on 2022 incidents:
EMS Calls
NGFR responded to 470 EMS related calls in 2022. This number not only includes our 395 patients experiencing a medical emergency, but 75 motor vehicle accidents. Of our 470 EMS calls, we transported 264 patients to the hospital (56% of EMS calls and 39% of our total call volume).
NGFR EMS providers take pride in providing excellent patient care on every EMS call. Incidents often call for immediate and sometimes lifesaving interventions. In 2022, our providers started 160 IV’s, assessed 124 12-lead EKGs, monitored 109 cardiac rhythms, applied 8 cervical collars, assisted 6 patients with ventilations, and also performed a needle decompression. Our EMS providers administered supplemental oxygen 46 times, fentanyl 23 times, ondansetron (Zofran) 20 times, epinephrine 1:10,000 19 times, nitroglycerin 19 times, DuoNeb 17 times, and aspirin 16 times.
Fire Calls
NGFR responded to 29 fires in 2022, including eight building fires. The other 21 fires included 11 grass or brush fires, five vehicle fires, three cooking fires, and two chimney fires. We responded to 52 “false calls.” Many of these were fire alarm activations that ended up being accidental. In the fire service, we treat these as real emergencies. Alarm systems are designed to activate when they believe a hazard (smoke, fire, CO, etc.) is present. It is the job of the fire department to determine if there is a hazard or not, mitigate the potential hazard, and secure the building. Other calls we responded to include gas leaks, wires down, and overheated equipment. The fire service is much more than responding to building fires. We are an “all hazards” department serving our community in a variety of ways.
To quote the late Chief John Eversole of the Chicago Fire Department: “Our department takes 1,120 calls every day. Do you know how many of the calls the public expects perfection on? 1,120. Nobody calls the fire department and says, ‘Send me two dumb firemen in a pickup truck.’ In three minutes they want five brain-surgeon decathlon champions to come and solve all their problems.”
People call 911 on the worst day of their life. We work hard as an organization and with our mutual aid partners to provide the best, most professional service we can.
Mutual Aid
Mutual Aid continues to trend upward. For 2022, we received mutual aid 65 times while providing it 60 times. By comparison, in 2020, we received aid 28 times and gave aid 27 times. In 2021, the numbers increased to receiving aid 53 times and giving aid 49 times. Of the 65 times we received mutual aid in 2022, 28 were due to our ambulance being on another medical call. New Gloucester, and many of our surrounding communities, can handle about one emergency at a time. In 2022, we had 108 overlapping calls (16% of our call volume). Some of these calls are storm-related and a response can be delayed. Other times, the next available unit is needed immediately. This is when mutual aid is often relied on.
New Gloucester and surrounding communities also have automatic aid responses for reported building fires, auto extrications, and other serious calls that are manpower-intensive. This is a proactive measure that communities take to ensure they have the correct resources on scene to mitigate the emergency.
Member Responses
Our response model at New Gloucester Fire Rescue is a mix of a career Fire Chief, two per diem firefighter/EMS providers 24/7, and a call company. In 2022, the Fire Chief’s position was vacant as the select board and town manager worked to find a candidate to fill the job. The work has continued to be done by Interim Chief Craig Bouchard, supplemented by EMS Chief Mary Rich, Captain Hale Fitzgerald, and Lieutenant Chris Gill.
The driving force of our organization continues to be our call company. They are a tremendous resource that is trained in multiple aspects of the job. Examples of call company responses can be anything from building fires and vehicle extrications to lifting assistance and help with CPR. Call company members meet every Monday night to train and perfect their craft. They sacrifice their time to put community above self. If anyone is interested in helping their community in a rewarding way, please reach out to us at 207-926-4142. There are many ways we can provide training and sponsor you to take classes to become trained. Examples of ways to help include interior firefighting, fire/police, exterior firefighting, EMS, driving/operating apparatus, and auxiliary.
Below are the top five call company responders for 2022:
• Firefighter/EMT Traedon Schwartz-154 calls
• Lieutenant Chris Gill-148 calls
• Firefighter/EMT Jared Schwartz-101 calls
• Firefighter/EMT Shamus Cole-82 calls
• Firefighter Paul Talley-33 calls
Thanks to all for their dedication to our community and our department.
COVID-19 Response
COVID-19 has still had an effect on our response. In 2022, we responded to 17 suspected cases and 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19. This is up from 18 confirmed cases in 2021, and 2 confirmed cases in 2020. COVID-19 variants, along with many other respiratory illnesses such as RSV and Influenza, are still common causes for respiratory emergencies. Though we have adjusted back to life as normal, please take care of yourselves and strive for a healthy 2023.
Incidents of Note
January: 22-NG0010 Ambulance 1 responded for a mother who had just given birth. A1 transported the child and Gray transported the mother. Per Maine EMS protocols, both patients need to be secured properly. This is why two ambulances were needed.
February: 22-NG0055 Companies responded to and extinguished an active chimney fire on Line Road. New Gloucester and automatic aid companies worked on scene for about 45 minutes before going back in service.
April: 22-NG0141 Approximate one-acre acre brush fire near a residence. Duty crew with the live-in student arrived and had water on the fire in six minutes from the tone.
April: 22-NG0152 Crews extinguished a well-involved vehicle fire on the Maine Turnpike, responding to assist Gray due to location of fire being in New Gloucester. Normally, Gray covers the turnpike northbound from Mile 63 to Mile 75, with New Gloucester covering the southbound sections. When calls are near the gates in New Gloucester, Gray will call us for mutual aid.
April: 22-NG0172 Approximate 3.5 acre woods fire off of Bennett Road. Crews operated for about 1.5 hours before going in service.
June: 22-NG0235 Motor Vehicle Accident with three patients and entrapment on Swamp Road. Crews quickly triaged patients based on severity of injuries, and worked quickly and efficiently to extricate a patient from the rear seat of a vehicle. The patient was transported to CMMC with non-life threatening but multiple traumatic injuries. The patient was extricated within 10 minutes of arriving on scene and delivered to a trauma center within 50 minutes.
June: 22-NG0264 Vehicle Fire on I-95 SB. Crews rapidly extinguished a well-involved vehicle fire on the Maine Turnpike. The turnpike was closed for safety for 15 minutes, then one lane was opened. All companies were on scene for 33 minutes total before returning in service.
June: 22-NG0266 Responded for a structure fire in Gray. Crews worked for just over an hour overhauling and extinguishing hot spots with Gray and Windham companies.
July: 22-NG0290, motorcycle accident on North Pownal Road resulting in serious injuries. Our per diem paramedic performed a needle decompression. (This procedure is an advanced skill only done by paramedics to relieve air build up from a collapsed lung.) Rapid transport and teamwork between our call company members and per diem staff resulted in the patient being delivered to a level 2 trauma center in 31 minutes from the arrival on scene.
July: 22-NG0297, 22-NG0298, 22-NG0299, the original call was for a two-vehicle MVA on I-95 SB near the Gray Exit. Engine 2, Engine 3, and A1 responded to assist Gray. A1 transported a trauma patient to MMC. While working to return to quarters, Engine 2 handled two more motor vehicle accidents on Gray on I-95 NB. One was a six-vehicle accident and the other a three-vehicle accident. Cumberland Fire Department also assisted. This is an excellent example of how our mutual aid system works.
August: 22-NG0361 Crews handled two serious trauma patients involved in a motor vehicle accident. One patient was transported by NGA1, another was transported by Gray.
August: 22-NG0385 Engine 3 and crew responded mutual aid to Norway for a multiple alarm building fire in a multi-family dwelling. The crew cycled through the building twice, extinguishing fire and performing overhaul. The per diem crew was able to remain in town due to a good call company response and they handled two additional calls while E3 was out.
October: On October 14th, on-duty crews and call company members professionally handled nine calls for service, including seven within an hour period, during inclement weather. These calls included a reported building fire, a motor vehicle accident, and multiple hazardous conditions caused by wires and trees down. They worked hard to ensure roads remained open and accessible for emergency vehicles.
October: 22-NG0508 crews handled a motor vehicle accident involving two school transport vehicles. A total of three patients ended up being transported.
November: 22-NG0542, E2 and E3 handled a well-involved tractor trailer fire on the turnpike. Companies made a quick knockdown and were able to return in service within the hour.
November: Companies handled eight calls for service during severe weather on November 30th. Six of these calls occurred within a two and a half hour period during heavy rains and high winds.
December: On December 23rd, New Gloucester Fire Rescue members handled 29 calls for service in a 21-hour period. At the height of the storm, crews responded to 24 calls between 11am and 7pm. These were mostly wires down but included two reported building fires, a medical call, and a couple of alarm activations. During this storm, the power outage knocked down our radio system’s ability to communicate with CCRCC. To adapt and overcome, we used a telephone to receive calls from them and dispatched ourselves from our Emergency Operations Center at the Fire Station. This showed the benefit of the incident command system. Our discipline, coordination, and professionalism are due to extensive subject matter training and attention to detail.
December: New Gloucester Fire and Rescue crews responded to three cardiac arrests during the month of December. These are difficult calls which oftentimes do not have the outcome we wish for. Two cardiac arrests were reviewed with Code Stat, our new QA/QI software with our new monitor. Both of the cardiac arrests, crews exceeded the AHA minimum standard for high-quality CPR. A third cardiac arrest was in Gray when they needed a mutual aid paramedic. The mutual aid system worked well with that call, with no hiccups working with providers from another community.
December: 22-NG0681 Engine 2 and Tank 1 responded to and operated at a structure fire in Pownal. Companies worked for just over an hour before returning.
Training
Training in 2022 was another continued priority for our department. We offered 91 training sessions for the year, resulting in 180 classroom hours. Cumulatively, our members completed 1,263 hours of training. This is an increase from 2021, when members completed 1,061 hours cumulatively. We had six members attain qualifications to be interior firefighters. This is our biggest increase of interior firefighters at one time since 2012. For 2022, we focused on goals set from the end of 2021. These goals included advanced firefighting tactics, continued driver training, technical rescue training, and training with our mutual aid partners.
Throughout the year, members trained multiple times on basic fire ground functions, such as hose deployment, search and rescue, and ground ladders. These drills worked to take their basic foundation and make it applicable to real world scenarios, advancing members’ skills. This training was able to be put to the test with our live-fire training in October. Our driver-training program continued to get more members signed off to operate apparatus. We also had many drivers complete recertification on the apparatus they are able to drive. This is a training that is required every three years.
Training with mutual aid partners was something we were able to do more of this year. We had eight joint-training sessions with Gray Fire Rescue, three of which involved live fire. Continued training with our mutual aid partners results in smoother working relationships during incidents. This was evident on many calls where our communities worked together in 2022.
In 2022, we were able to return to our annual live-fire drill. We utilized the Auburn Fire Department’s training building located on Minot Ave. The goal of this year’s drill was coordinated fire attack. At a residential structure fire, three tasks must be completed with precise timing for success in mitigating the emergency: search and rescue, fire extinguishment and ventilation.
During our live-fire drill, crews practiced a variety of search techniques. These included search under live-fire conditions ahead of a hose line, accessing the interior via a window to search bedrooms, and closing doors as they searched prior to the fire being extinguished. The fire attack team worked on rapid deployment of a hose line around multiple obstacles to the fire room. Once they were in the fire room, they coordinated with a team on the exterior of the building to ventilate the fire. Proper timing between fire attack and ventilation is important. If ventilation occurs too early, the clean air will contribute to rapid and unchecked fire growth. If ventilation occurs too late, heat and smoke will have nowhere to go and the environment in the building will remain hazardous.
We were able to light 10 fires and provide good training opportunities for all skill levels. This was the highlight of our year with training. While we hope to not use our skills in a real-life application, emergencies are inevitable. We strive to do our best to be prepared to help you with professionalism and compassion.
For 2023, training goals include:
• Command and leadership training to develop newer members to take on leadership roles within their groups on scene of incidents
• Training on tactics for fighting fires in large and commercial occupancies
• Driver recertification training
• Auto-extrication training
• Continued training with mutual aid departments
• Increased EMS training opportunities
Fire Prevention
Over the past few years, our fire prevention program has been revamped and taken off under the leadership of Lieutenant Chris Gill. This year, Lt. Gill and crews were able to visit both Memorial and Dunn Schools. They provided fire prevention education at three local day cares. They also had a presence at six other local community events, the biggest being our Open House and Chicken BBQ. Lt. Gill has identified that fire prevention and education is more than a week in October, but a year-round job that is beneficial to all age groups. Through his hard work, we have reached a larger demographic of our community. Though it is tough to capture specific metrics on the success of the program, one can safely assume that fire prevention education has been far-reaching in our community.
As Ben Franklin advised Philadelphia about the threat of fire in the 1700s, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
We want to thank Lt. Gill for his dedication to providing fire prevention on a year-round basis to many community members. If you or your organization would like education on fire safety, please reach out to us and we will get you in contact with Lt. Gill.
In conclusion, 2022 was a dynamic year that not only provided us with a busy call volume, but allowed members to grow and succeed. Many members experienced a significant “first” this year. These include first fires, first auto-extrications, and first serious medical calls. The dedication our members have to training and their craft was evident as they performed exceptionally well on these calls, providing the best possible outcomes for those who needed our services. Not every outcome is a win, but when we get back to the station and can say we “did a good job,” we improve as an organization and as individuals.
We would like to extend a special thank-you to the voters of New Gloucester for approving the funding for our replacement ambulance. The current ambulance has served the town well, and the new one will continue to do that with many updated safety features that follow the industry standard. Our department would also like to thank Craig Bouchard for his leadership as Interim Fire Chief. Chief Bouchard has done the work of a full time Chief, while working his career job in Auburn and having a family at home. His dedication and commitment to our organization and community is something we are very grateful for. We wish everyone a safe and healthy 2023, and we will be here ready to respond quickly and professionally if called upon.
