JD Raymond donates rescue vehicle to FD

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer
    DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department now has a smaller rescue vehicle in its fleet, which can be used for calls in which larger trucks are not needed, thanks to the donation of an ambulance to the department by J.D. Raymond Transport.

The donation was formally accepted by the selectmen during their Feb. 10 meeting.
    Firefighter Ryan Taylor, who was joined by several other members of the Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department, provided the selectmen with a detailed handout on the light rescue vehicle/utility truck as he explained the donation. A week prior the protection committee met with members of the fire department and opted to proceed by bringing the decision before the full board.
    The truck is a 2004 Ford “with fairly low mileage for the year” Taylor said about the 67,000 miles on the odometer. He said the vehicle was recently serviced at Scooter’s “and they saw no mechanical issues whatsoever” and has new tires on both the front and back.
    Taylor said the vehicle can transport a crew of seven to the scene of a call, as well as gear back to the station, and can keep members of the department out of the elements both in the cold and the heat. He mentioned recently the fire department provided aid to a call in Monson when the temperature dipped to over 20 degrees below zero, and in the summer was on the scene of a fire with a temperature of over 90 degrees with high humidity.
    “The advantage that truck has is it’s smaller,” Taylor said. He said this can keep the heavy rescue truck, with the Jaws of Life, in town if not needed, as well as two engines. “You are not putting these other trucks in harm’s way,” he said, with the donated vehicle also being more appropriate than a fire truck for some calls.
    Select Chair Elwood Edgerly asked what purchases may be needed to outfit the rescue vehicle. Taylor said Mayo Regional Hospital has offered to donate some supplies and “all we have to buy is minimal stuff which we have as first responders.”
    Select member Jane Conroy said the protection committee asked questions at the previous meeting, including how Mayo Regional Hospital feels about the Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department having the rescue truck. Hospital representatives indicated they were supportive of JD Raymond’s donation.
    “It really does benefit Mayo, it’s an extra set of hands whatever the situation is,” Town Manager Jack Clukey said.
    Taylor said the town will be paying for vehicle registration and insurance, but the fire department auxiliary will provide the funds for placing the lettering on the vehicle and Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency Director Tom Capraro has offered to donate a radio for the truck.
    He said future savings will be in fuel, compared to running the larger vehicles which should also receive less wear and tear by being taken out less frequently and when not needed in unfavorable conditions.
    “I just want to thank you guys,” Select Vice Chair Cindy Freeman Cyr said, mentioning she has seen news stories about the struggles volunteer fire departments across the state have been experiencing in finding members. “I really appreciate you guys and what you do.”
    In other business, Clukey said at the planning board’s meeting the week before the need to begin the process of updating the comprehensive plan was brought up. “The discussion moved toward the next steps in updating the comprehensive plan,” he said, as the document is nearly a decade old. “The planning board was interested in how a process could be productive.”
    Clukey said the current comprehensive plan was developed with the assistance of the Penobscot Valley Council of Governments, which was part of the Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC). Clukey said he checked with EMDC and the organization still works on comprehensive plans. He said EMDC will check Dover-Foxcroft’s plan “and basically get back to me with the various budget options.”
    “I really feel we could get value from them at reasonable cost,” Clukey said, as the selectmen gave him the go-ahead to bring more information back for a future meeting.
    Freeman Cyr said with an existing comprehensive plan, the town would not be starting from scratch as was done a decade ago. Edgerly said in the time since issues such as pipelines and wind farms have come up across the state and these could possibly be addressed in an updated plan.
    Wednesday, March 5, at 6:30 p.m. at the town office, is scheduled to be the first of four weekly sessions of the budget advisory committee. Clukey said the board’s administrative and assessing committees have been meeting with department heads already to go over preliminary figures for the 2014-15 spending plan.
    The tentative meeting schedule includes a public hearing on Wednesday, April 2, and then the town meeting to affirm the warrant article for June on Saturday, April 26 at 9 a.m.