AUBURN – Gerard N. Lamiette Sr., a former Auburn firefighter who formed two local businesses dedicated to fire safety, died Sunday at a Lewiston hospital. He was 73.

According to an obituary, Lamiette died at Central Maine Medical Center after years of declining health.

He died just six months after his 45-year-old son, Lewiston firefighter Gerard Lamiette Jr., passed away after collapsing from an apparent heart attack while off-duty.

For a quarter century, the senior Lamiette worked as a firefighter in Auburn before retiring with the rank of deputy chief in 1984. For those 25 years and beyond, his life was committed to equipment and training for firefighters.

Colleagues remembered Lamiette as a forward thinker who always had the business of fire safety in mind, even after he hung up his uniform.

“He was a very hard worker and he did a lot for the Auburn Fire Department,” said former Chief Clifton Smith, who worked with Lamiette for decades. “Everything he did was centered on fire protection, whether he was on or off the job.”

Lamiette founded the AAA Fire Extinguisher company, an Auburn outfit which remains in business today. He started the company in the basement of his home before moving it to a new building he constructed on Rodman Road.

In 1988, Lamiette formed Air Tech Co., which sold, serviced and tested air compressors for fire departments and industries in Maine and New Hampshire. He continually trained in new firefighting techniques and wrote an article for Fire Engineering Magazine, according to his obituary.

In 2004, Lamiette sold Air Tech to FireSafe Equipment, an Auburn company for which he once worked. According to the obituary, Lamiette sold the business because his health was deteriorating.

“He put his heart into everything he did,” Smith said. “I can’t say enough good things about him.”