By Eileen M. Adams
The Sun Journal
BYRON, Maine — This town of just over 120 residents may have to decide whether to disband the Fire Department.
Selectman Anne Simmons-Edmunds said a special informational meeting has been set for 6 p.m. Nov. 22 at the Coos Canyon Schoolhouse to discuss the future of the department.
Prompting the possibility of dissolution are several factors, including the impending resignation of the current fire chief, and a department with only five volunteer firefighters.
“They are trying to keep up with everything,” Simmons-Edmunds said.
Fire departments in Roxbury and Mexico are automatically called if there’s a structure fire, but not for other emergencies such as wires down or highway accidents.
Compounding the problem, Simmons-Edmunds said, are: inadequate communications with the Oxford County Regional Communications Center in Paris, which dispatches for emergencies; the cost of a more functional communications system; and the increasing amount of training and paperwork fire departments must complete.
“Byron has to follow the same guidelines as the Portland Fire Department,” Simmons-Edmunds said. That includes at least 40 hours training every year for each volunteer, regular equipment inspections, and a lot of paperwork. The fire chief is responsible for the department meeting all requirements.
Mexico Fire Chief Gary Wentzell, who met with Byron selectmen last week, will present information from the state’s Bureau of Standards on the required standards for every fire department in the state at the Nov. 22 informational meeting.
“Their easiest way out is with no fire department,” Wentzell said.
Options for coverage include merging with the Roxbury or Andover departments, contracting with Mexico, or some other solution that may be proposed.
“We’ve tried very hard to keep up, but no one wants to step up and take responsibility (for the fire department). Things have changed so much. A lot of people don’t understand that,” Simmons- Edmunds said.
Wentzell said if Byron decides to contract with Mexico, the Mexico Fire Department would be called first and a truck would roll immediately.
He said if Byron chooses that route, the boards of selectmen from Byron, Mexico and most likely, Roxbury, would have to meet to work out details.
Simmons-Edmunds said her board will meet Nov. 23 to decide the next step and to set a public hearing date. She said a special town meeting will likely be called on to act on whatever option selectmen decide to go with.
A resolution to the fire department problem could come as early as the first of the year.
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