By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – It was 1973, on the corner of Sabattus and College streets, and Michel Lajoie had goosebumps.

A year before, he’d given up his job as a private in the Lewiston Fire Department to work as a mechanic at a local car dealer. He was on the verge of opening his own shop.

But that day, he found himself on the corner watching a parade, a part of the Federation of Firefighters annual conference, held in Lewiston that year. There were trucks and men in uniform, all marching by.

“I was just standing there, watching it. It may sound silly, but it gave me goosebumps,” Lajoie said. “Something in me said that’s where I belonged.”

It took him three more years to ask for his old job back, and another 17 years before he became head of the department.

Now, after 12 years as fire chief, Lajoie said it’s enough. He has announced his retirement, effective February 2006, to City Administrator Jim Bennett and city councilors.

It’s a job he’s loved in his hometown, and he’ll miss it.

“But I’ll be 62 next year, and it just feels like it’s time to take some time for myself,” Lajoie said. He’ll explore other opportunities in the fire-protection field – fire education or consulting.

Bennett said he hoped to begin the search for Lajoie’s replacement quickly. He hoped to find and hire a replacement by January.

“I think we’ll probably put together a committee to handle the interviews,” Bennett said. Lajoie said he’d be happy to help with the process and is looking forward to helping his replacement settle in.

“You always look internal first,” Lajoie said. “We’ve got a good assistant chief now, a good battalion chief. But you have to go through the whole process and that means putting out the word to the general industry.”

Melded well

Lajoie said he always had good feelings about firefighters.

“I just sort of melded well with the fire service,” he said. He delivered newspapers around Dow Avenue when he was a kid and spent plenty of time around the neighboring fire station.

“When it was cold and early in morning, we always stopped in there,” he said. “They always treated us well.”

Then, in 1957, firefighters were the first on the scene when his father had a heart attack.

“They came in with the oxygen tanks and the stuff like that and that sort of left an impression with me,” he said.

Beyond the trucks and the uniforms, that’s what he liked most about the job.

“It’s about helping people, and that’s what I was brought up to believe we all need to do,” he said. “It’s the service that really matters.”

Lajoie said his top accomplishments include replacing aging equipment, using computer technology as much as possible and creating a fitness program. One goal he didn’t accomplish was setting up an emergency medical service, similar to those in Auburn and Portland. City leaders did away with Lewiston’s EMS service in the 1970s and Lajoie had hoped to bring it back.

“If we can provide immediate services, I think we should,” he said. “It’s all part of the package, you know.”

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