WEST PARIS – The Fire Department has fixed 31 state violations in roughly as many days to get the department back in shape and potentially ward off thousands of dollars worth of fines, according to the new fire chief.
Norm St. Pierre, who has been chief since the end of December, took the position after Maine’s Department of Labor cited the department for a number of safety problems, including faulty equipment and insufficiently trained firefighters.
The department had to be in compliance with state standards by Jan. 30, or face almost $6,000 in fines.
“We worked hard for 30 days to get everything back in line,” St. Pierre said Wednesday at the fire station. The work included logging more than 100 hours of training for 14 firefighters.
The town has sent a report to the state indicating the changes that have been made.
Adam Fisher of the Department of Labor said Wednesday that he can’t comment on the case because a final action hasn’t been taken yet. But, he said, “If the town has shown a good faith effort in addressing safety problems, we have the authority to waive fines in association with safety violations.”
Altogether, the department spent more than $10,000 to remedy the problems, town officials said.
A state inspector also found violations at the Town Office, the library and the transfer station during the same check on West Paris in November. The town had to spend an additional $2,000 to fix those infractions, according to Town Manager Don Woodbury.
They included improperly marked exit signs and fire extinguishers not mounted on walls.
St. Pierre said new gear was ordered for the fire crew. Documents were written up and filed. Exit signs and lights were placed inside the building. Hazardous materials, including hand soap, were labeled.
St. Pierre said the Fire Department over the years had let some things slip and, that with the outdated equipment and general state of disarray, employees had been in danger.
“In all reality, it could have caused someone’s death,” St. Pierre said.
Woodbury said Wednesday that the department was rundown because of a lack of consistent leadership. “I think that by and large it was a function of turnover in leadership in the Fire Department over several years,” he said. “There was nobody to keep track.”
Woodbury said he knew there were issues with the department, but he had not realized the extent of state violations.
“I was somewhat surprised by the extent of the finding and, as I said, some are more significant than others.”
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