Town officials in Thorndike are working to rebuild their volunteer fire department after nearly all of its members quit at a Select Board meeting Wednesday night.
First Selectman Larry Ward says the controversy centers around George Russell, the assistant fire chief who resigned recently after Waldo County emergency response officials expressed safety concerns about Russell’s leadership capabilities in a letter.
“Considering that we got this letter, I don’t think we can allow him to go out as a firefighter on mutual aid calls to other departments that have spoken out that they have no faith in his leadership,” he says. “Saying that they had no confidence and his leadership style was lacking, to say the very least. How can you ignore it?”
Ward says firefighters quit after the Select Board refused to reinstate Russell. For the time being, he says, mutual aid partner communities will respond to emergencies in Thorndike. He says the town will consider switching from a volunteer system to a municipal model.
