Fire chiefs, CMP discuss communications

M. Dirk Langeveld, Staff Writer  Jan. 11, 2010 Sun Journal

PARIS — Fire chiefs from six towns met with representatives from Central Maine Power on Thursday to discuss the power company's responses to emergency scenes.

Chiefs from Norway, Paris, Buckfield, Otisfield, Waterford and Hebron attended the meeting, which also included supervisors from CMP's divisions in Lewiston, Farmington and Bridgton. James P. Miclon, director of the Oxford County Regional Communications Center, said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss certain procedural matters with CMP.

"Nobody had any major complaints," he said. "It had been awhile since everybody had gotten together with CMP."

Miclon said the center has a direct line of communication with CMP and contacts the company's dispatch center during emergencies where electricity is involved, or weather events where power outages are an issue. He said the staff at the center has met with CMP officials before to discuss the use of terminology and differences between the electrical grid maps and communications center maps.

Miclon said the fire chiefs told CMP that the company has an important role in fighting fires. He said that since firefighters will attack structure fires in different ways, depending on whether or not the power to the building presents a problem, it is necessary for CMP to arrive as soon as possible.

"I think the biggest concern was to get an estimated time of arrival from Central Maine Power in the event of a fire," said Chief Dennis Yates of the Norway Fire Department.

Yates said fire departments are in communication with CMP through the communications center or occasionally their own dispatchers. He said one of the concerns involved the difficulty in getting an estimated arrival time from the company at a recent fire in West Paris.

"CMP really does a good job," he said. "We're not crabby, we just want to make things better."

Suzanne Bussiere, customer service adviser with CMP, said there was also concern over getting an estimated arrival time to an Otisfield scene during a winter storm on Thanksgiving weekend. She said a CMP service center, which is available in the Lakes Region during severe weather events to keep local fire departments informed of what they have available, was not open during that storm, and that the West Paris delay was a result of human error.

Bussiere said she regularly attends meetings with the fire chiefs and the Oxford County communications center throughout the year and encourages them to report any issues with the protocol immediately. She said the communications center will request an estimated time of arrival from CMP during emergencies.

"Sometimes they can give it and sometimes they can't," she said. "Sometimes they just don't know."

Bussiere said the current system was put in place after the 1998 ice storm.

"We're just going to try to continue working on the procedure that was already in place," she said.