LEWISTON – Michel Lajoie’s celebratory send-off his last day on the job was interrupted by – what else – a structure fire.
The fire chief was in the middle of slicing through his retirement cake when the tone sounded in Central Fire Station’s dining room.
“What’s that?” he said.
“We don’t know yet,” a firefighter answered. “A red team from Auburn is coming.”
A moment later, half the room cleared out.
Over their shoulders, firefighters shouted, “Sorry, chief,” and, “Good luck.”
It didn’t halt the party, just dampened spirits a bit as waning sirens wailed.
Ten minutes earlier, Engine 7 had pulled out of the middle bay at Central Fire Station, chasing a gasoline leak.
Lajoie instinctively reached for his radio and put it to his ear.
“I don’t have to go to that one,” he said, snapping the scanner back on his belt.
In the dining room, fellow firefighters who hadn’t jumped on one of the responding trucks toasted their outgoing chief.
“As far as I’m concerned, you’ve been the best chief since (Roland) Dumais and that’s going back a long time,” said Buzzy Metayer, who retired from the force 20 years ago. Dumais was chief in the 1960s.
Lajoie, who turns 62 this year, announced his retirement last September.
After the cake cutting, he ceremoniously handed his white chief’s helmet to his successor, Deputy Chief Paul LeClair, then shook his hand.
“It doesn’t seem possible time has gone by so quickly,” said Lajoie, who headed the department for 12 years.
The radio crackled again. The structure fire was out.
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