Maine leadership mum on firefighter staffing issue

Residents are concerned after a number of Maine firefighters resigned following an incident in September

Something strange came across my notice the other day: Concern about safety in the village of Maine. Why? Apparently there was a big shakeup with the fire department, and now a number of its firefighters are gone for various reasons.

After a lot of asking around, a failed attempt to attend a village of Maine meeting, and diving into some meeting minutes, the picture is starting to become clear.

And it doesn’t look good.

Trouble in Maine

In the post, which has since been deleted, a resident of the village of Maine expressed great concern over the fact that six firefighters from the all-volunteer fire department in the village of Maine resigned. That included three officers and three firefighters. This is confirmed via minutes from a September board meeting. According to the post, five more have left since then. That would leave 19 firefighters from a total of 32 prior to the first resignations.

The whole thing stemmed from an incident in which the deputy fire chief, Jeremy Bozinski, was allowing a resident to fill scuba air tanks with the department’s air compressor in exchange for a donation to the department, and at one point gave the resident the passcode. Supposedly this is a standard practice for smaller departments, Bozinski told the board.

The system locked up, according to village of Maine minutes of a meeting where the incident was discussed. And the resident was in the building alone when the incident occurred.

Jeremy Bozinski was placed on leave Sept. 9 and demoted after a Sept. 23 hearing, along with being placed on leave. Other firefighters thought the punishment was so harsh that several officers and firefighters quit. That included his dad the fire chief, Joe Bozinski.

Chief Bozinski told the hearing that it was common to give out the building code to vendors and others. But Maine officials expressed concern over liability issues.

In response, three officers and three firefighters resigned.

Either way, residents are worried about safety with a lack of firefighters in the village, saying those who had left were the ones who responded to the majority of calls.

Trying to get answers

A liaison acting on behalf of The Wausonian tried reaching out to several of the firefighters who left but none were willing to speak to a reporter out of fear of reprisal from the village president, Betty Hoenisch.

I reached out to Hoenisch with some questions. Hoenisch didn’t respond, but I saw a special meeting on the agenda for a Monday night that looked short, and thought I could confront her with questions afterward.