City firefighters thanked for Katrina aid

BANGOR – Hurricane Katrina wiped away a good portion of Slidell, La., and visiting firefighters – including those from Bangor and the Portland area – were crucial to the rebuilding process.

That’s what Battalion Fire Chief Bill McInnis from St. Tammany Parish Fire District No. 1 in Slidell said in a Southern accent while thanking the three Bangor firefighters who volunteered in his community during the months after the devastating 2005 Gulf Coast hurricane.

“We’ve never forgotten,” he said.

Bangor firefighter and paramedic Tim Campbell, 46, and firefighter-emergency medical response technicians Bruce Johnson, 44, and Andrew Willigar, 39, joined seven others from Portland and South Portland and spent nearly a month working in Louisiana in the wake of the storm.

Campbell has been with the department for 12 years, Johnson is an 18-year veteran, and Willigar has served since 1990, giving him 17 years.

Slidell has a population of about 30,000 and is located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

Wind gusts of 190 mph or faster were recorded in the community during Hurricane Katrina, and the area was hit by a storm surge of 23 to 26 feet that wiped out much of the city, according to reports from the National Weather Service.

About half of the Slidell firefighters had significant damage to their homes after Katrina, and 15 percent lost their homes entirely, Bangor Fire Chief Jeff Cammack said.

The decision to allow the three firefighters to go was not a hard one, and “it certainly was an experience they wouldn’t give back,” he said.

The visiting firefighters from Maine worked a strenuous schedule that called for 48 hours on duty followed by a day off.

“The work was nasty, hard and dirty, and they were incredible,” McInnis said.

In addition to clearing roads, fixing equipment, rebuilding the fire station and fighting fires, the presence of the Maine firefighter also gave local firefighters time to work on fixing their own homes.

On their days off, the three Bangor firefighters didn’t relax. Instead they went to the homes of their Louisiana counterparts and did more work.

“Willigar helped replace drywall damaged by the storm, Campbell cut down toppled trees in yards and Johnson fixed several small engines and vehicles damaged by flooding, including two fire engines,” a press release from the Bangor department said.

Campbell, who is handy with a chain saw, was instrumental in teaching the Louisiana firefights how to use the tool, McInnis said, and in doing so helped keep his firefighters safe.

“We’re not tree cutters,” he said. “We use chain saws to maybe cut a hole in a roof.”

The Maine group, which joined with others from Portland, Ore., after arriving in the Gulf Coast, left the state on Oct. 26, 2005, and returned nearly a month later on Nov. 19.

The Bangor Fire Department was given a plaque to hang on the station’s wall and each of the firefighters was given certificates of thanks.

“The guys from Bangor, Portland and South Portland hadn’t been there a day or two and they were like family,” McInnis said before the meeting while talking with Bangor Mayor Richard Greene.

The Louisiana chief also visited Portland earlier in the day to thank their firefighters, the department and the community.