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Islanders seek change in ru!GREAT DIAMOND ISLAND, Maine (UPI) — Islanders here say they feel “helpless” against fires and deplore a requirement that mainland authorities double check before they can send a fireboat to help douse a blaze, but one Portland official says that may change soon.Michael J. Metcalf, commander of island services for the city’s public safety department, said Sunday a mindboggling series of “snafus” allowed a fire at a vacant World War II fort on this island to rage unchecked for too long.One of the problems, he said, was a verification system which requires that dipatchers notified of an island fire call specified islanders to verify the report. The island resident must check out the report personally and inform the department whether a fire is raging or not.Only then does the fireboat leave Portland harbor, Metcalf said.“This system we’ve had has worked. We haven’t had problems like this in the past, Metcalf said. But now we have, and I think we have to safeguard against that.”Metcalf said the verification system was instituted 10 years ago to prevent the fireboat from chasing false alarms. Operating the fireboat costs the city slightly more than $100 per hour, he said.Islanders on Great Diamond fought desperately side by side with firefighters Saturday to control a fire that destroyed a theater and large officers’ barracks at Fort McKinley, the former command post safeguarding Casco Bay.By the time firefighters arrived, those two buildings were already long gone, Capt. Ronald W. Thompson said.“When we got there the theater was completely involved. Two of the four wallswere already collapsing,” Thompson said “At least two-thirds 5f the barracks was also heavily involved.”The roofs of two other barracks buildings across a wide parade ground also caught fire from embers carried on the wind, but were quickly put out by Thompson, who scrambled to the roof without a ladder.“We’re helpless, summer resident Earl Ramsay of Scarborough said. “You're not going to save any building here that’s on fire. The best you can do is wet down adjoining buildings so they don't catch. That's the only salvation you have.”“Fire is the worst danger that there is here,” his wife added. It’s the same on all the islands. Come visit us but don’t bring matches.”“There's absolutely no security measures at all preventing people fromcoming into that area and doing what they wish.” Ramsay said, adding he had seen remains of campfires set on the porches of the vacant barracks and fort buildings.“Thank God this happened on the weekend,” said Ramsay, who has summered on Great Diamond with his family for 17 years. “If it was during the middle of the week there’d be no one there. The gosh darn thing would probably still be burning.”Metcalf, a native of Peaks Island, saidhe understands the islanders' feai of fires — cut off as they are from the public services mainland residents take for granted.“This was a series of situations that wasn't handled properly,” he said “It could probably never happen again. Maybe it's time to go back to a different system. There are alternatives
Newspaper Details
Biddeford Journal Tribune
Biddeford, Maine, US
Mon, Jun 30, 1980
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Judith R.
USA 11 May 2018
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