Dozens of firefighters and fire service officials from around the state joined friends and family to remember Don Bisset, Maine’s first Fire Marshal, at his funeral on Dec. 4 at Waldoboro First Baptist Church.
“It was heartwarming,” Bisset’s wife, Joyce Bisset said. “He was the love of my life, and I was touched to see so many come out to remember him.”
Starting in 1955, Bisset served as an investigator with the State Fire Prevention Bureau. When the position of Fire Marshal was created in 1973, he was appointed and served for 16 years.
The longtime Jefferson resident died Nov. 26 at the age of 84.
His ceremony was a display of the affection for Bisset. There were a few tearful moments, but on the whole the speakers focused on Bisset’s love of life and the widespread impact of his work.
Anne Jordan, Maine’s Commissioner of Public Safety, was a young district attorney when she asked Bisset to send her to a national conference on arson investigation.
“Don got it,” Jordan said. “He got that we could improve by increasing people’s understanding of the legal side of arson investigation. Don laid a foundation at the Fire Marshal’s Office so that things got done right.”
Among a long list of Bisset’s accomplishment’s as Fire Marshal, Jordan said that Bisset was influential in Maine becoming the first state to ban novelty lighters after a child’s death. More states followed suit, and Maine hasn’t had a single fire death from a novelty lighter since.
Joseph Thomas, Lieutenant with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, told of a fatal fire at the Cumberland County jail that he investigated with Bisset.
“As we looked around the scene, it was horrific,” Thomas said.
After a few minutes, Bisset turned to Thomas and said, “There is no early warning system, no smoke detectors, no sprinklers – this didn’t have to happen.”
“Those words still ring out to me,” Thomas said. “‘This didn’t have to happen.’ Today, we work to carry on Don’s legacy.”
Darrel Fournier, Freeport Fire Chief, described Bisset as a gentleman, and said that he “had a true love of the fire service.”
Fournier said Bisset was the driving force behind a statewide transition to tracking a fire department’s work. “For the first time, we had facts to show what we’d done, instead of just anecdotal evidence.”
Bisset was also an early proponent of training local firefighters in arson detection. “He believed firmly in the value of providing training.”
Several speakers also told of a more lighthearted side of Bisset.
Richard Shepard, a senior investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office recalled working with Bisset retrieving old explosives.
One of the first times they went out together to pick up an explosive, Bisset told Shepard, “Don’t worry about it, it won’t blow up,” Shepard said. “Just pour some motor oil on it and pick it up.”
Bewildered, Shepard asked Bisset what the motor oil was for: “I don’t know, but if it catches fire you’ll be able to see it,” Bisset replied.
Following the funeral, a fireworks display was conducted behind the church in Bisset’s honor.
“He would have loved that,” said Bisset’s son, Foster Blake. “He loved things that went boom.”
Although many of Blake’s favorite memories of Bisset “aren’t exactly fit for print about the former Fire Marshal,” Blake recalled an afternoon two or three years ago, when much of their family had gathered. Someone had just given a five horsepower mini-bike to one of the kids, and all the kids were scrambling for their turn to ride.
“We were all nervous about the kids and the bike,” Blake said. “Then dad puts his cane down and hops on. Seeing him cruising around the yard, at 80 years old, was disconcerting for those who loved him, but that was dad.”
At the station, there were several displays of photos and memorabilia, including the certificate awarding Bisset the Bronze Star Medal for bravery for his service in the US Army during World War II.
He received the medal after charging across a bridge under heavy fire. “I’d always ask him about that and about why he did it, and he’d always say, ‘Well, it wasn’t getting any better where I was,'” Blake said.
Blake remembers his father as “always a big kid” and a man who “passed away with his record of never having a bad day still intact.”
A few days after the ceremony, Joyce Bisset said she also remembers Bisset’s formidable zest for life. “He carried a sense of adventure through every day of his life,” she said.
Joyce Bisset said she recently received a letter from one of Bisset’s old friends, who wrote that Bisset was his mentor, took him under his wing when he was a teenager and taught him “a little plumbing and a lot about enjoying life.”
