In the early 1970s, when Donald Bisset was appointed the state’s first Fire Marshal, he was presented with a daunting challenge: build an office that would create rules and regulations and work for the safety of a million, strongly independent people.
“There are very few people who could have stepped up to the task that Don did,” said Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Tim Pellerin. “He was a huge man – in stature and in what he did.”
With Bisset’s passing on Nov. 26 at the age of 84, the long-time Jefferson resident is remembered by friends, family and firefighters around the state.
“He was one of the nicest men you’d ever meet,” said County Commissioner and lifetime member of the Jefferson Fire Department Sheridan Bond. “He was a good man, and a dedicated firefighter.”
Bond was a 20-year-old student at University of Maine Augusta and an Assistant Chief in Jefferson when he first met Bisset. At that time, Jefferson firefighters fought fires in street clothes.
Bond was sent to research what jackets the department should look for.
“I was told, you’ve got to talk to the new Fire Marshal,” Bond said. “When I got to Don’s office, he was still unpacking.”
Bond and Bisset spent two hours moving into the office and looking at catalogues. It was the start of a long friendship and close working relationship.
“He was like a brother,” Bond said of the time he spent with Bisset investigating a series of suspected arsons in Jefferson in the mid-’80s. “He was hard working and very close to his family.”
Bisset was highly respected by his children, Robby Bisset, Foster Blake and Paula Wareheim, and he “was married to a wonderful woman, Joyce Bisset,” Bond said.
Bisset worked hard to create a statewide safety standard in Maine and build the office of Fire Marshal. He created the basis for the state’s building fire codes and other rules at a time when there was staunch resistance to such regulations.
“Everything he did was about the safety of the people,” Pellerin said.
When drivers pull up to the gas pump and see the notice to turn off their engine, that was Bisset, Pellerin said. Required smoke alarms in apartment buildings, that was Bisset too. “He plotted the map for fire safety in Maine.”
Bisset dreamed of building a central fire-training academy for Maine, Bond said. He would never see that dream realized, due to budget constraints, but Lincoln County is working toward that goal, Bond said.
The Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency, Lincoln County Fire Chief’s Association and the Fire Academy are working together building an advanced training facility in Wiscasset.
“When you get on, you start to wonder whether your career made a difference – whether you’ll be remembered,” Pellerin said. “In Don’s case, without a doubt his tenure as Fire Marshal set the direction for the state. In all our work in Lincoln County, we remember Bisset and his vision.”
Bissett served as State Fire Marshal from 1975 to his retirement in 1992.
He began his 37-year state career as a Fire Inspector/Investigator in 1955 in the old Division of State Fire Prevention Bureau. In 1972, the State Fire Prevention Bureau became part of the Department of Public Safety, and the name of the bureau was changed to the State Fire Marshal’s Office in 1973, at which time he was appointed Maine’s first Fire Marshal.
A Full Service, with Fire Department Honors, will be held at the Waldoboro First Baptist Church on Rt. 1 just north of Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro, on Sat., Dec. 4, at 1 p.m.
A procession will follow the Service to the Jefferson Fire Station, on Rt. 32, for a reception.
