When Paul Leeman Jr. tuned 16, his father brought him to the Bristol Fire Department and signed him up.
“It was sort of a rite of passage at the time. When I turned 16, I joined the fire department, just like my father and grandfather,” he said.
Following Leeman’s elevation to fire chief in January, he quickly learned that being chief is a different role than other firefighters.
“You don’t understand what it means, until you become chief. There is a weight of responsibility knowing that you could receive a phone call at any time and have to respond (to an emergency),” he said.
As the Bristol chief, Leeman knows there will be an emergency, like a fire, an auto accident, or some sightseer slipping off the Pemaquid Point rocks into the chilly waters and pounding waves of the North Atlantic.
While he knows he will have to respond to bad news, he knows the good news is that he has an experienced crew of about 30 men and women who know their business.
“We have three great assistant chiefs with a wealth of knowledge. Any one of them could be chief. I do not plan to micro manage them,” he said.
However, the former department safety officer is clear he wants to make sure his department follows proper safety practices.
One of his first acts was to arrange for one of his fellow firefighters, Rusty Bryant, to attend a special driving school. Bryant, in turn, will train the others.
“We just have to be careful,” he said.
Leeman knows the times have changed for volunteer firefighters. Members no longer work at home or near their communities meaning that some departments, including a few in Lincoln County, have trouble answering emergency calls in the daytime hours.
When circumstances require, Lincoln County departments pool their resources through a well-rehearsed mutual aid system.
When East Boothbay’s Washburn & Doughty shipyard burned in July 2008, Bristol firefighters sent a crew to help.
“If you told me years ago we would be fighting a fire in East Boothbay, I would have been surprised,” Leeman said. “Today, we train together, we know each other. We work together. Mutual aid is the word today.”
Leeman grew up in Bristol and still lives in Round Pond with his wife Jessica. He is employed as a cook a kitchen manager at the Darling Center in Walpole.
Like his father and grandfather, he grew up in the restaurant business, most recently, as an owner of the Samoset in New Harbor.
On Feb. 3, he and his fellow Bristol firefighters were given a major federal grant to purchase some great ingredients.
Last week Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced the Bristol department was awarded a $116,000 federal grant to help upgrade their equipment. The gear came through the Homeland Security Department’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.
Although he was not chief when his department sought the grant, Leeman is happy to accept it.
On deck is a plan to purchase 28 sets of new protective clothing (called “turn out gear”) and air tanks called Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). The department has 30 members so they will have to raise $4900 to purchase two additional sets of gear.
“We want to replace all the gear that is at least 10 years old,” Leeman said.
Last fall, the Bristol Fire Department put two new fire trucks in service. The addition of the new “turn out gear” will put their equipment on par with most major urban departments.
Leeman is quick to acknowledge he is following a local legend, former fire chief Ron Pendleton, who retired in January after 55 years as a firefighter, but Leeman is careful to say he is not replacing Pendleton. He is also careful to use the word “our” when talking about the department, not “my” department.
After all, firefighting is a team sport.
“He (Pendleton) left this department in great shape. His son, Jared, an assistant chief, is a great firefighter, too” Leeman said.
The Bristol Fire Department has always been a family affair. Leeman’s son is the fourth generation member. Jared Pendleton is his brother-in-law.
The Bristol department has new trucks and is getting new turn out gear and air packs, but they would like to have some new members, especially those that are in their 20s and 30s.
“We have a department that is getting up in years. We need to attract more younger members. We need 20 and 30-year-olds,” he said.
Most of all, the new chief, the department’s safety officer for 20 years, wants to make sure he and his fellow firefighters are able to perform their duties, and come home.
“I just want them to be careful,” he said.
