PARIS, Maine — All 18 members of the Paris Fire Department have been reinstated after a nearly two-hour meeting with the chief and the town’s select board, Fire Chief Mark Blaquire told NEWS CENTER Maine on March 2.
More than a dozen community members gathered outside of town hall Monday night to show their support for Blaquire and the 18 men in his department who resigned last week.
Original story reported Feb. 26:
Paris Fire Department is without many of its members after firefighters turned in their gear during a meeting Wednesday night.
According to former fire chief and firefighter Jon Longley, 18 Paris Fire Department members resigned because town manager, Dawn Noyes overturned a decision made by Chief Mark Blaquire.
“The town manager and the human resource person came to speak at our meeting… and the long of the short was that she usurped the power of chief after we clearly pointed out in the SOP (standard operating procedure) guidelines that the chief has the ultimate authority and decision. She reversed the decision that the chief had made,” Longley told the Sun Journal.
Longley said the decision was in regard to personnel. Blaquire originally made the decision to ensure everyone’s safety.
“The town manager basically told us if we didn’t like it, then we could go find something else to do,” Longley said.
A volunteer firefighter told NEWS CENTER Maine that the community is not in danger as other firefighters from the surrounding towns would respond to an incident, but it does put a major strain on those departments.
NEWS CENTER Maine spoke to Paris Fire Chief Mark Blaquire who declined to comment at this time.
This is an ongoing story. We will update as more information becomes available.