A trial by fire

Training pays off as South Portland emergency personnel respond to a dangerous blaze

SOUTH PORTLAND — Two “rookies” are being praised for actions that made an early-morning fire that closed South Portland’s Main Street for much of the day Aug. 15 go “about as well as it possibly could.”

Despite the loss of both his home and his chiropractic office, even the victim, Dr. Alan Williams, said a firefighter handling his first call as an officer and a dispatcher calling her first fire of any kind did “an amazing job.”

“It’s a testament to their training,” he said Monday. “It’s clear to me that they and everyone else knew exactly what they were doing.”

Still, there was one close call, involving the fiery collapse of the roof of Williams’ home at 554 Main St. As a fourth-generation firefighter, Lt. Jon Martin was nonplussed when recounting the experience Monday, saying the incident was not nearly so dramatic from inside the building as it looked on the outside.

Martin, 34, said he was on the second floor, pulling an attack line into place alongside firefighter J.R. Carter, when he heard a sort of soft thump in the attic over his head. That, said Fire Chief Kevin Guimond, was the sound of the roof caving in.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” said Guimond, a 25-year veteran. “The roof just started falling in on itself. If they had got to the point where they were attacking the fire, if they’d got up the stairs and in another 15 or 20 feet, it could have gotten pretty bad.”

As it was, Martin said visibility inside the building was “clear as a bell,” with no more than “a slight haze” at the ceiling line. With the stairwell door closed and all smoke and heat venting out an attic window prior to the roof collapse, Martin felt in full command of the situation. Even the lights were still on, he said, explaining his radio reply – “Making good progress” ­– to Guimond’s initial call to evacuate the building.

“He thought he had it,” said Guimond, with a smile. “But, of course, they couldn’t see what we were looking at on the outside. Even outside, we saw very little fire until the roof fell in. Then, when that happened, a window blew out and it just took off within the matter of a second.”

From that point, the operation became a defensive battle, designed to save houses that flanked the Williams property from the width of a driveway on either side. Siding melted on the building belonging to Williams’ brother and fellow chiropractor, Dr. Malcolm Williams, but crews were able to protect it from the rapidly growing inferno.

That crew, eventually numbering nearly 50 firefighters from South Portland and Portland, also undertook a salvage mission, covering Williams’ belongings with tarps to protect them from water damage.

“It appears they managed to save most save most of the records from my office,” said Alan Williams.

What made all of that possible, said Guimond, were Martin’s actions as first officer on scene. He’s hardly a rookie. The Vermont native graduated with a degree in fire science from Southern Maine Community College and has been a member of the South Portland Fire Department for almost 11 years. But last week’s fire was the first for Martin since his promotion to lieutenant in February.

“He did absolutely everything right,” said Guimond, “which on its own is kind of amazing when you figure the call came in at about four in the morning, when these guys are sleeping, and they go from zero to 100 in a snap.”

As the officer in charge, it was Martin’s job to do the initial “size-up,” accessing he situation, calling for necessary units, establishing a water supply and directing placement of apparatus. Essentially, he was the incident commander until Guimond arrived on scene.

“If I set up a good strategy, half his job is done,” said Martin. “It was a good experience for my first fire. The main thing is to stay calm and direct people so that they remain calm as well. Still, we were lucky that there were only two people in that big building, and they were already out where we got there. We were lucky there wasn’t a baby, or kids.”

In addition to Martin, Guimond praised dispatcher Jessie Lemieux, 30, of Gray, who handled her first fire call that night.

“She did a phenomenal job. They both did,” said Guimond, playing back the radio traffic from that night. “You can hear on the radio that both of them, they were just absolutely dead calm.”

Like Martin, Lemieux is hardly a rookie in the truest sense, having worked at the Portland dispatch center for seven years. But it’s a process from taking 911 calls, to dispatching police, to the final step of handling commutations for a structure fire, and, Lemieux admitted, she was anxious when she heard the call from in from a passerby, knowing she was about to go into action holding a fire scene together for the first time.

Still, like Martin, she’s quick to deflect praise to her co-workers.

“My primary focus was the fire and then my backup that night, Brian Cole, he was my right-hand man,” she said, noting that it was Cole’s job to dispatch mutual aid towns, outside agencies and utility crews, while also handling the two additional calls that came in while the fire was in progress.

“Basically, it was my job to listen and he did all the work, making me look good,” she said.

Still, Guimond confirms Williams’ suspicion that the work done Wednesday night was as much a testament to training as able co-workers. Both Martin and Lemieux logged hundreds of hours in training, and hundreds more on similar emergencies. Those lessons paid off when it came time to take charge, he said, when things could have gone very wrong if Martin on his end of the radio, or Lemieux on hers, had got excited, or made a bad decision.

“They did it really about as well as it can be done,” said Guimond.

Meanwhile, Williams is trying to recover his practice. He is working to restore a telephone line and invites patients and others to call 773-6425, where a message will update the progress on getting back up and running.

Williams offered thanks Monday to everyone that pitched in to put out the fire, as well as those like the Red Cross, Goodwill, neighbors, fellow chiropractors and even strangers, with offers of food, clothing, shelter and aid.

“It’s been overwhelming the way the entire community, it seems, has cared enough to help,” he said.