NORWAY – Local fire chiefs have asked for a meeting with Central Maine Power Co. officials to see if the power company can better serve the needs of firefighters who guard downed power lines, and of residents who need emergency power for medical equipment.
Norway Fire Chief Mike Mann told selectmen last week that firefighters have to wait an average of two hours for a utility crew to respond to downed lines, which means the town pays the 15 to 20 firefighters who answer such calls.
“It costs as much for a downed wire as a structure fire,” Mann told the board. “It’s costing the town a lot of money for us to stand there with trucks and everything.”
Fire departments guard broken wires because they may be live, and people need to be prevented from getting close to them.
“What we want is the time, not exactly, but within an hour” of when a crew will arrive at the scene, Mann said. “We don’t know if we’ll be there two hours, four hours, six hours or what.”
He said if it was clear when power was going to be turned off to a downed wire, fire departments could better organize their volunteers to wait at the site in shifts.
“Not only that,” Mann said. “If someone is on oxygen and needs power, and we knew it would be a long time, we could get generators there to run oxygen machines or different machines people need.”
John Carroll, a spokesman at Central Maine Power, said he was not aware of the problem, but that representatives regularly attend regional fire association meetings to listen to complaints. He said a representative would attend Monday’s Western Maine Fireman’s Association at the Hebron Fire Department.
But Mann said company representatives have listened to complaints at these meetings in the past, and nothing has changed.
Central Maine Power, which employs 1,200 people, covers a huge swath of Maine, from York County to the town of Jackman and east to Bangor and Orland, Carroll said.
“During a storm, based on the situation in the county and service area, we will cruise around continually,” he said, explaining that crews get sent to the worst-hit areas.
“There is always a challenge as trees and limbs come down, or there are car accidents. This is a constant challenge for us, and it’s an important partnership between CMP and local responders. And we need to keep working with them, and we try,” he said.
Mann acknowledged that Central Maine Power has an enormous job to do during storms.
“We know they are busy, really, really busy,” he said. “Estimated time of arrival, it’s all we’re asking.”
Paris Fire Chief Brad Frost said Monday that he has contacted the company to set up a meeting with company officials and area fire chiefs.
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