GRAY – The 125th anniversary of the Gray Fire-Rescue Department will be celebrated Saturday, Sept. 17, with fireworks at Spring Meadow Golf and Country Club.
The event spearheaded by the Fire-Rescue Association, the Fire Department and others begins at 1 p.m. with a parade starting off Route 26 at Gray Park and heading north on the Shaker Road to the Gray-New Gloucester High School on Libby Hill Road.
Local officials and regional leaders are expected to honor the dedicated work of the rescue and fire workers. The department’s roots reach back to 1880 when the town’s first fire brigade was formed by selectmen.
Firefighters’ musters for adults and children are planned at Gray New Gloucester Middle school.
Visitors may participate in a series of games and events for children including beanbag toss, a moon walk and dunking booth sponsored by Gray Parks and Recreation with the help of the Gray-New Gloucester Optimist Club.
Later, a performance by the Blue Hill Brass Quintet concludes with fireworks at Spring Meadows Golf Club on Route 100. The fireworks are sponsored by Cole Farms, Gobeil Furniture and Cook’s Hardware Store.
Fire Chief Jon Barton, the department’s seventh chief, said a fire brigade was launched by selectmen in 1880. Horse-drawn fire equipment responded to fire calls during the early years.
As equipment, technology and firefighting science evolved, the town’s response to fire reflected that, with motorized firetrucks, pumper trucks all run by volunteers.
When the town’s rescue unit formed in the 1960s, a hearse was loaned by Wilson Funeral Home of Gray to transport the injured and sick to local hospitals until the town’s rescue unit was purchased in the early 1970s for $20,000.
A local doctor trained volunteers in basic first aid.
Now, the department’s 42 people are cross-trained in fire and rescue operations and paid for the actual time they’re on a call.
The Fire Department has grown to three engine companies, one ladder company, support vehicles such as ATVs, snowmobiles and watercraft, and specialized equipment.
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