Cheers to Jim and Jason Levesque — father and son — of  Sabattus. They are truly remarkable men, each worthy of the title “hero.”

Last year, the men risked their own safety to rescue Jeffrey Brough from his burning truck after Brough lost control and hit a tree by the Levesques’ home. They, along with police officer Ralph Destefano, dragged Brough from the truck cab while flames licked at them all.

Jim Levesque dove through the cab’s window to reach Brough, despite the fact that a fair number of Levesque’s ribs were broken from an injury. While Jason used a fire extinguisher to curb the flames, his father and Destefano pulled Brough from the cab so swiftly he was said to have emerged from the truck “like he had wings on.”

Sabattus will recognize the Levesques at the town’s annual meeting today with the Fire Department’s citizen’s hero award, a richly deserved honor.

We all like to think that we would risk our own safety and comfort to help another, but a hero is someone who actually does it. Jim and Jason Levesque are heroes.

Wilton Police Chief Dennis Brown took on a beast of a job three years ago, and has since turned around a department that could only be described as dysfunctional. Cheers to him and everyone who helped him along the way.

Brown was hired in early 2007, and a month later received a letter from District Attorney Norman Croteau directing the department to transfer all of the town’s child sex abuse cases to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department for investigation. The Wilton officers weren’t trained to handle those cases and were seen as botching cases because they didn’t follow procedure or department policies.

A month after that, Brown was the only police officer remaining on the force as all patrol officers — there were three — were given the choice to resign, retire or be more forcibly removed for poor performance. A thorough house-cleaning, to be sure.

Brown was a man alone, working all kinds of calls and facing the prospect of rebuilding his department’s manpower and its reputation.

On Wednesday, Assistant District Attorneys Andrew Robinson and James Andrews told selectmen that the Police Department has made tremendous strides in professionalism, case management and community profile in the years since Brown’s hire. The town’s department, according to Robinson, is “successfully moving in the right direction.”

Brown must have wondered, more than once, what he had gotten himself into when he accepted the Wilton job, leaving a chief’s position in Vermont to come to Maine. But he stuck with it and turned the department around.

Wilton suffered greatly when the hammer came down on its sloppy police work, and people talked. Now, the talk is positive and forward-thinking. That’s good for the department, good for citizens and bad for crooks.

Cheers to Lewiston’s move to restore the playground at Sunnyside Park.

The park just behind Central Maine Medical Center, now 33 years old, looks and seems older than its years. It’s long past due for a makeover, and we welcome its renovation.

On Wednesday, the city will break ground on the project, which will include installation of a swing set, seesaw, climber and play structure, all designed for play. The project is being funded by the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and the L&A Fund, and is a fine example of local families pitching in to help improve their neighborhood.

Updating a city park may seem like a small thing, but it isn’t. It says we care about our communities and the families who live in our city, and that active and imaginative play is important.

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