At their March 13 meeting, the Waldoboro Board of Selectmen honored those who saved the life of a Waldoboro woman when her home caught fire earlier this month.
The combined efforts of Waldoboro Fire Chief Paul Smeltzer, Waldoboro Police Det. Lance Mitchell, Paramedic and Emergency Medical Services Deputy Dir. Mike Poli, Intermediate Emergency Medical Technician Jordan Powell and resident Benjamin Ouellette are credited with enabling the remarkable rescue of Deborah Miller when her home on Winslows Mills Road caught fire in the evening on March 1.
Ouellette, Miller’s neighbor, reported the fire. Mitchell was the first on scene, and Ouellette told him Miller was still inside. “[Ouellette] deserves as much credit as anybody,” said Waldoboro Fire Chief Paul Smeltzer. “If he hadn’t been so sure she was inside, we might not have gotten in so quickly.”
Smeltzer, the first firefighter on scene, found Miller unconscious in her kitchen, about 10 feet from the door. He pulled Miller to the doorway where Poli and Powell picked her up and brought to the hospital.
Waldoboro’s former fire chief, Dick Glidden, said in more than 60 years of fighting fires he’s never seen an unconscious person taken from a burning building who survived.
“Everybody that volunteers to do what we do, this is why,” Smeltzer said. “She’s alive today because of a tremendous team effort.”
The selectmen presented the five with citations detailing their service.
“They remind us what makes this a great community,” said Board of Selectmen Chairman Steve Cartwright. “We’re very moved their efforts.”
Miller was alone when her house caught fire. Her two dogs and a cat have since been found and are alive and well.
The cause of the fire is unknown. Although it is not being treated as suspicious, the state fire marshal’s office is investigating.
