OTISFIELD — “When I kick off, I want a firefighter’s celebration. At the fire station with a lot of lights and lots of noise.”

Those were the words of Otisfield Selectman and Fire Department Lt. Lenny Adler during a June 28 interview after the annual town meeting adjourned. He talked about love for the town he adopted more than 60 years ago.

Eleven days later, he died unexpectedly. He was 80.

A celebration of life service is planned Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the Spurr’s Corner Station, 994 state Route 121.

Alder was reelected to what he assured residents would be his last term on the Select Board.

He had also just been honored before townspeople for serving with the Fire Department since it was organized in 1965.

Chief Kyle Jordan presented Adler with a plaque of appreciation while Deputy Chief Jared Damon read a letter of thanks written by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.

Several days before that, Adler was feted at the Maine State Legislature in Augusta, where he received another plaque for his 60 years of service.

District 18 Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford spoke from the Senate floor about Adler’s accomplishments, which far exceed his six-decade tenure with the Fire Department.

As Jordan told residents during his remarks at the annual town meeting, Adler felt the first call to firefighting when he was an 11-year-old summer resident of Otisfield and a neighbor’s home caught fire.

“His uncle responded and Lenny tagged along,” Jordan said. “As the fire engine arrived his uncle grabbed a hose and headed toward the burning structure, with him following close behind. That day sparked a passion that would shape Lenny’s future.

“I have asked him, “‘what kind of a fire chief would allow an 11-year-old boy to go into a burning building?’”

“Lenny’s response was, ‘a good one! And that’s the way we did it back then.’ And, my grandfather was a pretty good chief.”

During his last interview, Adler talked about his love for Otisfield, the old days, and how fire service has changed over the years.

“Although I wasn’t born here, I was always around the town,” he said. “All my friends were local. Kids that came for the summer, they congregated with the other summer people but I never did. My friends were all locals.

“My best friend’s family ran a dairy farm. I’d spend my summers haying. I used to do some logging, and worked at a gas station in Casco. Weekends during the summer,” he said.

When Adler was very young, his family summered at a place on Scribner Hills. Later, his parents bought a house on Powhatan Road.

“I hate to admit it, but I’m originally from Massachusetts,” he said. “I moved here in 1964, as soon as I graduated, and I’ve been here ever since.”

To be exact, it was the day after he graduated from Franklin Technical Institute in 1964 that he packed his bags and drove from Massachusetts to Otisfield for good.

He worked at Ripley & Fletcher for 40 years as a truck mechanic.

Over his 60 years with the Fire Department, Adler served as captain, assistant chief, chief, and most recently as lieutenant.

His service extended beyond the fire station – as the town’s road commissioner, health officer and several terms as selectman.

“Lenny joined the Fire Department when it officially formed back in 1965,” Jordan said as he sat with Adler for the June 28 interview. “His impact on Otisfield and our Fire Department has been profound. He was chief from 1982-84. He was responsible for purchasing Otisfield’s first factory-built firetruck. He played a key role in the development of rescue, and served as an EMT.

“Lenny is always stepping up whenever his community needs him,” Jordan said.

Adler was also a mentor to his peers from younger generations — his son, James, is the fire chief for Andover and Jordan has been chief since 2015.

Adler witnessed firefighting in rural Maine change from a default local crew responding to the fire whistle to today’s high-tech equipped and well-trained force.

“We had very little equipment then,” he recalled. “We were limited. Small trucks, small pumps, no safety or turnout gear, no air packs,” he said. “We would pump, and if the well went dry we’d watch the house burn.

“Today there’s millions of dollars of equipment and we have all kinds of safety gear and pumping capacity, big tanks, all kinds of water. And now we do a lot that we didn’t used to do. We used to put fires out. Now we do medical calls, accidents, flooded basements, everything,” he said.

The tradition and economics of volunteer fire service has become strained in ways that modern equipment and standards can’t help.

Fewer young people who work further from home are drawn to the service. Training is expensive and time-consuming. Mutual aid from, and with, neighboring communities is critical.

“One of the problems is that years ago everyone was close to town,” Adler said. “Now you have to call people home from Lewiston, Auburn, Windham, Oxford, Norway and Paris. It takes time to respond.

“You talk to fire chiefs all over the state, it’s hard recruiting eligible guys. That’s one of the reasons Otisfield’s department is so small,” he said.

Jordan said, “I grew up with Lenny’s son, Jimmy, around the firehouse We were hanging out there before we were 10 years old. We rode on top of the firetrucks during parades. We had a lot fun. We’d take portable water containers and squirt water at the people watching.

“That’s how we grew up,” he said. “My dad was a firefighter for 56 years. Lenny and my dad were close friends. I think Jimmy would agree — we’re both fire chiefs — we grew up with the fire service because we wanted to hang out with our dads.”

As Jordan talked about the pride Otisfield’s volunteers have for their service and for each other, he had no way to know that in less than two weeks the town would lose its longest-serving firefighter.

“To be able to say that I’ve been a firefighter for 40 years, I take pride in that,” he said. “In the last few weeks, some of the things we’ve honored Lenny with, it’s been easy to read his face.

“When I say it’s a privilege to serve, it is. It’s not for everybody. Lenny won’t say it, but he carries that pride around. He’s proud to have been a firefighter for 60 years, and he’s proud of all the things he’s done.”