LEWISTON – For more than a quarter century, Fire Chief Michel Lajoie has watched over the city. He has helped battle blazes that burned entire blocks and ripped through tenements, mills, churches, businesses and private homes.

At a ceremony in Augusta Tuesday, Lajoie was named Fire Chief of the Year by the Maine Municipal Association.

The chief was not told about the award until it was presented to him at the Augusta Civic Center just as his family walked in. He was not expecting it.

“I didn’t suspect a thing,” Lajoie said. “They hit me right between the eyes with this. I was set right back on my chair. It’s a huge, huge honor.”

Lajoie was taken aback, but the people he work with were not short on words. It was not just his years spent fighting fires that garnered the award, Lajoie’s colleagues said. In recent years, Lajoie has committed much of his time and energy into preventing fires and upgrading safety conditions.

“Chief Lajoie sets an excellent example for all firefighters,” Assistant Fire Chief Paul Leclair said. “He makes their safety and the safety of the community his No. 1 priority.”

Lajoie, who joined the Lewiston Fire Department as a firefighter in 1974, was nominated for the award by City Administrator Jim Bennett.

Lajoie was named chief of the department in 1994.

At the ceremony, he was commended for developing fire prevention programs, upgrading communications systems and helping to implement the first joint dispatch effort in the state.

Lajoie also introduced a measure to join emergency medical services to the Fire Department, a project he continues to work on.

Bennett’s nomination also praised a monumental grant initiative in which Lajoie submitted a grant to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a new pumper and rescue truck. The effort brought $292,500 to Lewiston, which resulted in this year’s arrival of the new truck.

“It was, and I believe still is, the largest such grant awarded within the country,” Bennett said. “With that success, Mike’s vision and determination made a significant contribution to the Lewiston Fire Department’s safety capabilities.”

Bennett said Lajoie’s leadership was a major contributor toward ensuring safety on Jan.11, 2003, when the World Church of the Creator white supremacist group brought a rally to Lewiston.

“Mike played a key role in necessary decision making to secure public safety on that day,” Bennett said. “Further, he personally spent the time necessary to fit test nearly every member of our police department for new gas masks that arrived the week before the event.”

“The event ended with no issues and has become a model used by the Department of Justice for other communities dealing with hate group rallies,” Bennett said. “Mike was part of the public safety plan and the success of protecting our residents.”

Lajoie is a member of numerous groups outside the Fire Department. With all those administrative duties, you’d think the chief would be stuck behind a desk all day. But it’s not uncommon to see Lajoie at a downtown fire in the middle of the night.

“I’ve seen a lot during my career,” he said Wednesday night. “But what I’m most happy about with this award is that it reflects well on the city of Lewiston. It reflects well on the Fire Department. Everybody’s name should be on that award. Everybody had a part in getting me here.”

Lajoie lives in Lewiston with his wife, Rita, and has three grown children: Denise, John and Rachel, along with grandchildren Samantha, Marlie, Brandon, Bryce, and Brianna.

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