Hermon Fire Department Has Busy 24 Hours; Highlights Need For Help

When there's an emergency, especially when there's fire, we all hope that when we make the call to 911, someone comes to help us.

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There should be no doubt of the important role our local firefighters play when it comes to responding to emergencies across our state. In recent years, whether it be on-call or paid positions, many fire companies in Maine have been operating undermanned.

For communities like Hermon, who have mutual aid agreements with surrounding cities and towns like Bangor and Levant, their department's ability to respond to emergencies is determined by those who are available to answer the call to serve.

According to the town's website, the Hermon Fire Department serves roughly 6,500 citizens and makes in the ballpark of 300 calls a year.

"The Department operates with five pieces of fire apparatus, a full-time Fire Chief, full-time Firefighter/EMT, and 25 paid-call members. "

On a day like Thursday, when multiple issues require aid, it becomes very evident how fortunate these communities are to have personnel willing to help. It also shows how quickly these resources can diminish with each additional emergency call the firefighters receive.

According to the Professional Firefighters of Hermon, IAFF 5458 Facebook Page, Firefighters in Hermon started the day on Thursday at 1 AM, providing mutual aid to Bangor, with a 3-person crew and a snowmobile. Their job at the first call was to help someone get back up onto the road, to first responders who were waiting nearby.

"We then responded to an EMS incident in Town while our station was manned by a callback crew. Around 4 am, we responded to Union Street in Levant on a 1st Alarm building fire. We were diverted to a second building fire on the Avenue Road in Levant... This fire went to 3 alarms due to the shortage of manpower in our departments. We do the best with the crews we have, but we are only human."

The post went on to encourage anyone who might be interested in helping out their community and/or joining up with their local fire department, to visit or reach out to them.