Unicel celebrates Hometown Heroes

BANGOR – Philip Hilt, firefighter and emergency medical technician, and Joe Wellman, firefighter and paramedic, of the Bangor Fire Department were honored as Hometown Heroes Sept. 19, at the Unicel store in Bangor for outstanding service to the community.

On June 19, Hilt and Wellman answered a call at the Bangor Fire Department Central Station to help a woman in labor. Hilt and Wellman decided to bring the woman to Eastern Maine Medical Center by ambulance.

A short time later, Hilt asked Wellman to stop the ambulance because Hilt had just helped deliver a baby girl.

The baby’s father cut the umbilical cord in the ambulance, and baby girl and mother arrived safely at EMMC.

Assistant Fire Chief Vance Tripp of the Bangor Fire Department nominated Hilt and Wellman for their outstanding service to the Bangor community.

Unicel presented Hilt and Wellman with Hometown Heroes certificates. The company will donate $250 to the fire department or to a local charity of their choice.

Hometown Heroes recognizes the efforts of firefighters and emergency personnel in Bangor and throughout Unicel’s Northeast Region – Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and New York.

Unicel stores will donate nearly $4,000 to local fire departments in the Northeast Region as part of the Hometown Heroes program.