The top floor of Central Fire Station on Minot Avenue in Auburn has a dormitory feel and a spotlessness one does not expect from a place a bunch of guys call home for 24 hours at a time.
There are bedrooms, a multipurose room, a workout room, a kitchen, and a common area with recliners and a large-screen television. There is even a ping-pong table for activity time.
Working a full day on, and then three days off, the chores are divided among the duty firemen on duty; someone will cook; someone will clean.
But, during normal working hours, the living quarters are deserted. Everyone is on the first floor working on their trucks or going over a new air tank supply system from Lewiston’s fire department.
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- According to Ryan Demers of the Auburn Fire Department, most new firehouses are moving away from the fireman’s pole because of knee and ankle injuries. Now, they are using a slide to get to the trucks in a rushed situation. The firemen’s poles in the Central Fire Station on Minot Avenue are believed to be the longest in the state.
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- The shift for fire fighters in Auburn starts at 7 a.m. and lasts 24 hours – until at 7 a.m. the next day. Therefore, each member of the Auburn Fire Department at the Central Fire Station has their own bed in the living quarters, but is not allowed to go to sleep until after 11 p.m.
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- Along the wall of the exercise room in the Central Fire House on Minot Avenue in Auburn, one of the fire fighters built a cabinet to house fire department memorabilia and antiques.
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- Ryan Demers, of the Auburn Fire Department, clears off the ping-pong table used during activity time at the Central Fire Station on Minot Avenue. The table is located in the common area, just off the kitchen. Each fire fighters is responsible to purchase their own food for their shifts and donates money to a “kitty,” that buys staples like coffee and peanut butter.
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