HOULTON – Fifty-four years ago, when devastating forest fires in Bar Harbor and other parts of the state ravaged more than 205,000 acres in Maine, many towns were without fire departments. Most of those existing departments were generally poorly equipped and even more poorly trained, and that made fighting the fires more difficult.

“There was a need for more coordination; more uniformity in preparation,” said Steve Willis, who heads Maine Fire Training and Education, the state agency that sets firefighter-training standards for the state. “At the time of the 1947 fires, there was not a lot of ongoing training between the organizations that ultimately found themselves having to work together.”

One outcome of those fires was the formation in 1948 of the Maine Fire Service Training program by the Department of Education. The program eventually became incorporated as Maine Fire Training and Education within the Southern Maine Technical College in Portland.

In 1976, the National Fire Protection Agency developed the first national standards for firefighter training, and, in 1982, Maine’s first curriculum, keyed to the national standards, was published by MFT&E.

Known as Firefighter I, the training, Willis said, is performance-based and hands-on. The training isn’t mandatory, but firefighters are urged to take it.

“It gives those who are able to go through it a very broad, skills-based, wide range of training,” he said during a telephone interview last week.

Every five years, the state standards are revised in order to keep firefighter skills in line with national standards. Changes are being reviewed again this year, but this time, fire chiefs across the state are worried.

They may end up with better-trained firefighters, but they also may have fewer of them.

There are about 450 fire departments in Maine with an estimated 12,000 firefighters, 11,000 of whom are volunteers or call personnel.

“We know nationally that there has been an estimated 15 percent reduction over the last 10 years in the number of volunteers,” said Willis. “Anecdotally, we think that’s the case in Maine, too.”

A draft proposal of the changes to the Firefighter I program calls for it to be expanded from seven modules, or study units,to 11. At the same time, the number of hours needed to complete the program could increase from 112 hours to more than 200.

“It’s definitely going to affect recruitment,” said George Scranton, fire chief in Skowhegan in Somerset County.

Skowhegan has both full-time and on-call firefighters. The department requires that its personnel take only the first five Firefighter I modules, enough to allow them to meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.

“We provide what’s necessary for a person to do structural firefighting,” said Scranton, who added that that still requires 80 hours of training. Even that time requirement, he said, is enough to discourage some from becoming on-call firefighters. Recently, only five of 11 candidates decided to join the department.

“When they come in and see what’s required of them, forget it,” said the chief. “They don’t want to give up the 80 hours.”

Willis noted, however, that the number of hours required is not the important thing. Rather, he said, the emphasis is on developing firefighter competency.

“It’s going to be more hours, but what we’re finding is that in our existing Firefighter I there were several subject areas where new people just didn’t have enough practice time,” he said. “We’re attempting to address that in the new Firefighter I.”

He said it was found that more instruction time was needed for topics such as ladders, self-contained breathing apparatus and hoses, for example. There also needs to be greater emphasis on physical fitness and health, Willis said, noting that half of all firefighter deaths in the United States are due to heart attacks and strokes. Wildland fires and more advanced training for hazardous material emergencies also will be included.

The current program covers everything from fire behavior and personal safety to actual training on live fires in buildings and with propane.

Willis added that a survey he did 11/2 years ago of 30 states revealed that the average time given to Firefighter I training was 200 to 250 hours.

Glenn Miller has been a firefighter in Houlton in Aroostook County for 15 years, including 13 as a full-timer. He also has been a state fire instructor for almost eight years; as a result, he sees both sides of the issue.

“The changes we’re making are needed changes” to the firefighter training, he said during a recent interview at the fire station. “We were actually falling behind a little [nationally]. We need to catch up, and this will put us where we need to be.

“There’s no way to shorten training up,” he added. “If you shorten this up, there’s no competency when you’ve left.”

On the other hand, he has seen numerous times when firefighters have had to drop out of a class because of other commitments on their time. He also is concerned that any increase in the hours needed for training could result in fewer firefighters taking part.

Peter Sawyer is chief of the Milbridge Volunteer Fire Department in Washington County. He has seen his active roster drop from 25 firefighters down to eight. He said some of his firefighters recently completed the Firefighter I program in January, but it’s getting harder all the time for them to do it.

“They’re all working guys, so 112 to 118 hours is all they could handle at that point,” said Sawyer during a recent telephone interview. “If it goes to double, it’s going to be a problem to get guys to do it.”

At the last town meeting, money was put into the Fire Department’s budget to provide incentive pay for volunteers to take training. That, Sawyer said, helped him pick up a couple more candidates.

“I didn’t know how else to approach it,” he said.

Phil Dawson, the fire chief in Howland in Penobscot County, faces a similar problem.

“You don’t have people knocking down your door to get in,” he said during a telephone interview. “It’s perpetual recruitment. You gain a couple; you lose three or four.

“I’m all for getting guys trained to the highest level you can,” said Dawson. “But when you take that up to 200-some hours, you’re going to make the job twice as hard.”

Willis doesn’t disagree, and time and recruitment issues are being considered as MFT&E personnel try to upgrade the program, he said.

“We’ve tried to balance the need for more practice time with the obvious time constraints that every fire department is struggling with,” he said. “Time is money, and being able to spend the amount of time necessary to train people is certainly a challenge.

“We keep asking ourselves: ‘What is the minimum amount of training a firefighter needs to provide whatever service it is, safely?'” he said. “There are fewer fires, so there are longer periods of time between when a person is trained and when they actually get to use the skills on an actual fire. That means they really have to have the practice time so that those skills become second nature.”

Dawson of Howland understands that, but, at the same time, he thinks that as the new Firefighter I standards are developed, the problems that will have to be faced with recruitment and retention will have to be considered.

“I think the concept is good, but in a state where 85 percent of the departments are volunteer, somebody has to address this time issue,” he said. “They’re just putting it out of reach for some of the guys who want to do something.”

Willis said he realizes that with increased standards and the time required to meet them, at least in small fire departments, it will be harder to find people to serve. At the same time, he said, the seriousness of modern firefighting makes it imperative that those who do it be as well-trained as possible.

“I don’t think there’s anything in the draft that doesn’t have a solid basis in fact and common sense,” he said. “Firefighting is not basket weaving. It’s very, very dangerous, it’s highly demanding, and you cannot do it half-prepared.”

“Safety is a key factor and the people we train, if they maintain their training, they’re probably some of the safest firefighters in the state,” echoed Miller.