The Westbrook Maine Fire Department serves the city of Westbrook, located in Cumberland County, Maine. The department provides a variety of emergency services, including fire suppression, rescue operations, emergency medical services (EMS), and fire prevention education. It plays a crucial role in the safety and well-being of the local community by responding to fires, medical emergencies, and other hazardous incidents.
The good:
– long held culture of hard nosed firefighters
– modern equipment
– one of the more urban areas of Maine
– firefighters on the floor are generally into the job
– the line officers manage 95% of the day to day operations
– 42 hour work week, 1on-1off-1on-5off
The bad:
– minimum staffing level has not changed in nearly two decades despite significant increase in call volume
– the administration is not well versed in current firefighting operations
– the city and the admin put a large emphasis on accolades and certifications rather than actually improving services to the public.
– the administration and the union have a significantly adversarial relationship.
Overall:
No department is perfect. The bond between the floor staff is what keeps the department afloat.
Westbrook has always prided itself on working with what it’s got. The members are hardworking and love going out in the community to mitigate incident or conduct public relations events. They are a department that has had a minimum manning of 9 since 2004 and 4 of those positions being dedicated to ambulances that may or may not be available for structural fires. The leadership prioritizes perception of themselves over mental health and operations of the department, making a single unit respond to more than 70% of all incidents in the city. When it comes to equipment there is a reactive approach to when it needs replacing. Until an incident happens where a piece of equipment is need that the department does not have and the outcome is unfavorable or a catastrophic failure equipment requests fall on deaf ears. Avoidance of potential liability is also high on the list for the admin, to the point where cameras were installed in the apparatus, that’s notifies the chief when apparatus exceeds 15 mph over the posted limit. Also purchase of video laryngoscopes that record intubations that are reviewed for non-education purposes. The schedule is a 4 shift system working 24 hour shifts 1,1,1,5. This is one of the better schedules in the area but the limited man power quickly exhaust resources and mutual aid is heavily depended on. The members of the department are the backbone of the department and make it worth coming to work everyday there. No matter how busy the day is there is always something to make everyone smile and have fun with each other.
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2 Reviews on “Westbrook Fire Department”
The good:
– long held culture of hard nosed firefighters
– modern equipment
– one of the more urban areas of Maine
– firefighters on the floor are generally into the job
– the line officers manage 95% of the day to day operations
– 42 hour work week, 1on-1off-1on-5off
The bad:
– minimum staffing level has not changed in nearly two decades despite significant increase in call volume
– the administration is not well versed in current firefighting operations
– the city and the admin put a large emphasis on accolades and certifications rather than actually improving services to the public.
– the administration and the union have a significantly adversarial relationship.
Overall:
No department is perfect. The bond between the floor staff is what keeps the department afloat.
Westbrook has always prided itself on working with what it’s got. The members are hardworking and love going out in the community to mitigate incident or conduct public relations events. They are a department that has had a minimum manning of 9 since 2004 and 4 of those positions being dedicated to ambulances that may or may not be available for structural fires. The leadership prioritizes perception of themselves over mental health and operations of the department, making a single unit respond to more than 70% of all incidents in the city. When it comes to equipment there is a reactive approach to when it needs replacing. Until an incident happens where a piece of equipment is need that the department does not have and the outcome is unfavorable or a catastrophic failure equipment requests fall on deaf ears. Avoidance of potential liability is also high on the list for the admin, to the point where cameras were installed in the apparatus, that’s notifies the chief when apparatus exceeds 15 mph over the posted limit. Also purchase of video laryngoscopes that record intubations that are reviewed for non-education purposes. The schedule is a 4 shift system working 24 hour shifts 1,1,1,5. This is one of the better schedules in the area but the limited man power quickly exhaust resources and mutual aid is heavily depended on. The members of the department are the backbone of the department and make it worth coming to work everyday there. No matter how busy the day is there is always something to make everyone smile and have fun with each other.