“Dinner’s ready,” Scott Burnham announces over the loud speaker.

“Gotta eat quickly,” Lt. Mike Lecompte said.

“Firefighters eat fast,” Burnham said.

Sure enough, just as the last of five firefighters sit down to eat dinner at the Engine No. 5 station in Auburn, the alarm sounds and all five rush to the trucks, leaving hot chili and a cold gallon of milk sitting on the table.

“Happens quite a bit,” said Burnham, the firehouse cook, who rarely has to wash dishes.

Burnham, of Harrison, has been an Auburn firefighter for 16 years and has enjoyed cooking for his colleagues the entire time. Some stations rotate cooking duties, but No. 5 station has lucked out.

Burnham “enjoys doing the cooking” and that gets the rest of the crew off the hook. Certain perks come with the job – Burnham rarely needs to clean up or do dishes and gets to be first in line.

The key to cooking for a house full of firefighters? “Cook simple, straightforward stuff . . . put the spice right to it . . . and bigger the better,” Burnham said.

“Scottie comes up with all kinds of concoctions. He keeps us healthy,” Lecompte said. “I personally like his Irish soda bread. That stuff is good.”

Another major benefit: “One of his big things is he likes to cook healthy,” Lecompte said.

Burnham likes to use a lot of vegetables and hardly uses butter or salt. “I try to take out as much fat and sugar as I can,” he said.

All else aside, it’s Burnham’s calzones that get top reviews.

“His calzones are pretty famous,” firefighter Steve Coombs said.

“I make them big,” Burnham said. “They hang over the side of the dinner plate.”

Anytime visitors or retired firefighters visit the station, a request is made for “Scottie’s calzones,” Lecompte said.

“I don’t get real fancy,” Burnham said. When he does, a few eyes begin to roll. One firefighter fussed that Burnham was using too many vegetables. “He must of got attacked in the garden as a kid,” Burnham said.

The complaint came around Easter, so Burnham made his specialty, calzones, and stuffed one of them with marshmallow Peeps. “You can’t mess with the cook in the firehouse,” Burnham said.

Food scraps from the station follow Burnham home after his 24-hour shift. “If we don’t eat it, the pigs will,” said Burnham, who raises chickens and pigs. Burnham’s wife, Betsy, got too attached to their most recent hogs “Laverne and Shirley” and would not eat the meat. So, some bacon came back to the station.

“Scottie spoils us,” Lecompte said.

“The most important part of the day is the meal,” firefighter Rob Dumont said.