In three decades of service with the Alna Volunteer Fire Department, James Bruce has had a hand in seemingly every step of the department’s progress.
He has helped the department double its fleet of fire trucks, keep its members safe at fires and move out of a donated, undersized garage and into a gleaming, modern facility
The Lincoln County Fire Chiefs Association presented Bruce with its Chief Bob Maxcy Lifetime Achievement Award Aug. 15
Bruce’s record of public service dates back a half-century to 1962-1968, when he was a submarine missile technician in the U.S. Navy.
After his military service, in the 1970s, Bruce was living and working in Ledyard, Conn., when a firefighter neighbor talked him into joining the town’s volunteer department.
He was on the department for four years, and he began to develop his commitment to volunteer firefighting.
“I like the camaraderie,” he said. “Everybody helps everybody. You can count on them. If you’re in any kind of a situation, someone’s there with you.”
Eventually, his career as a civilian electrical technician working on Navy submarines took him to Kittery. Shortly thereafter, he continued north to Bath where he would supervise shipbuilding at Bath Iron Works from 1980 until his 1995 retirement.
In 1980, he moved to Alna. He liked the rural, small town atmosphere. The next year, he joined the Alna Volunteer Fire Department.
When he arrived in 1981, a donated one-and-a-half car garage on Dock Road served as the fire station.
The department crammed two trucks, a 1948 Ford and a 1973 Dodge Power Wagon, into the space.
“We had to move the trucks out of the building and then we could have our meeting,” Bruce said.
Later, the firefighters, under the supervision of Newcastle contractor Chris Doherty, built a new fire station on Route 218.
Bruce helped fill the new station, writing bid specifications for the department’s 1986 and 1996 trucks, which, along with a 2002 Ford one-ton pickup truck and the old 1973 Dodge, make up the department’s present-day fleet.
In more recent times, with the help of Capt. Paul Ouellette, Bruce oversaw the building of a large addition to the fire station and remodeling of the existing station.
The summer and fall of construction, Bruce would visit the site 2-3 times every day.
Bruce’s 31 years of service to the department include a stint as assistant chief from 1987-1989. He has been the department safety officer for the last 10 years.
At fires, he carefully monitors the scene, walking the grounds and keeping tabs on where everyone is at any time.
He remembers a blaze at the home of Judy Fossel on a “cold, cold day in December,” when everything, including hose lines and the water on the firefighters’ uniforms, was freezing, as one of the most challenging of his career.
Extreme weather adds a dangerous variable to a firefighter’s job, and a fire one sweltering August day a few years back at the home of Assistant Chief Roger Whitney sent some firefighters to the hospital with heat stroke.
The fire consumed a barn and a home addition, but the firefighters saved the main house, Bruce said.
At 69, Bruce remains an active firefighter. He attends meetings and shares the responsibilities of safety officer with another member of the department.
Today, he does not respond to fires as often as he used to. He enjoys his retirement, spending winters in Florida and traveling with his wife and their friends.
A former selectman, planning board member and caretaker of the town’s historic buildings, he continues to help the department and the town in a number of small ways, opening the fire station for a work crew or fulfilling his duties as a cemetery trustee.
“I help where I can help,” he said.
