"It was bitterly cold and approaching midnight on a windswept street in Sabattus.
"In front of a house that was shooting flames, a firefighter struggled
to adjust a ladder with one hand while holding a whirring chain saw
with the other.
"From my warm car parked in the Uncle Moe's Diner lot, I watched the
firefighter climb that ice-slicked ladder and step out onto a roof that
had been burning for nearly four hours. He stepped onto the very edge of
the blackened roof, tested his footing, and then leaned in with the
growling chain saw before him.
"From my warm and safe perspective across the street, what happened
next was madness. The firefighter leaned toward the side of a dormer,
feet slipping momentarily on the icy roof edge, and began to cut into
the wall with the chain saw, releasing a fury of fire that pounced on
him like the breath of a dragon.
"The firefighter did not react to this, he just kept hacking into that
wall. A few minutes later, flames were licking at his masked face and
pooling around his feet. Still, he kept cutting away, exposing more and
more fire so that another firefighter could climb that ice-slicked
ladder with a hose and direct water at the fire."
A recent article in the Sun Journal (Lewiston, ME) reported on the unsung dedication and heroics of the region's volunteer firefighters.
To access the complete Sun Journal report, please visit:
Sun Journal: Volunteer firefighters: Heroes you have never heard of (12 MAR 19)
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