Staff Writer 

Today in Augusta, Maine’s Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public safety will digest a proposal to begin investigating the possibility of creating the Maine Emergency Services Institute – a special training facility for firefighters Bangor Fire Chief Jeff Cammack has envisioned since 2000.

“It’s important we have one central entity to train firefighters. Right now we travel around the state like a bunch of gypsies,” he told committee members last week. “The [Maine Criminal Justice Academy] is light years ahead of us. We’re trying to get a leg up.”

Currently, Cammack said Maine firefighters receive training from volunteer instructors who travel throughout the state once the demand for training is high enough, at out-of-state facilities such as the National Fire Academy in Maryland or in South Portland where Southern Maine Community College offers a Maine Fire Training and Education program. Cammack said the new facility, which had been formerly envisioned at the Brunswick Naval Air Station, would need to be more spacious and farther from an urban area than the current training area at SMCC. The institute would act as a “main hub” for several other proposed satellite training facilities for firefighters in remote parts of the state, he said.

“We know we’re not going to be good neighbors. There will be smoke and we need space to drive firetrucks and do burns,” Cammack said. “Plus, SMCC is really strapped for space and this would free up some room for them.”

Scarborough Fire Chief Michael Thurlow said he “commonly” sends firefighters to  Maryland for specialized training but was glad the town partnered with departments in Gorham and Windham to help enhance SMCC’s program with a week-long “Rookie Academy,” which allows trainees to receive their Firefighter I or Firefighter II certification.

“[SMCC] doesn’t really offer that, so we basically come in and do it for them,” Thurlow said. “The National Fire Academy is really the closest thing we’ve got to a training facility but there are very limited opportunities there. Those classes fill up quick.”

To fund plans for the proposed facility, Portland Democratic Rep. Anne Haskell has sponsored legislation that would increase a 30-cent surcharge initially established to fund the state’s Emergency 911 service to 50 cents. Cammack said the engineering phase could cost up to $700,000 although Whiting Republican Rep. and committee member David Burns estimated the total project could cost more than $3.5 million annually.

Maine Criminal Justice Academy Director John Rogers said it cost the state approximately $14 million to establish the campus, which currently operates on a $1.6 million annual budget. Currently, Rogers said the Criminal Justice Academy offers 130 programs including two four-month long basic training programs for approximately 100 police officers each year.

“[The $1.6 million budget] doesn’t include the cost of instruction, which is all volunteer,” Rogers said. “Some of them come while they’re on duty, but that’s between them and their department.”

Former Gray Rep. Donnie Carroll, who is also executive director of Southern Maine EMS, supported the surcharge increase although he estimated other proposed legislation aimed to tap into the surcharge could result in an overall 48-cent increase, more than 150 percent of the current 30-cent fee Mainers pay for their land-based phone lines. Telephone Association of Maine spokesman Beth Osler said the surcharge currently generates $8 million for 911 service and the total proposed increases would result in an additional $78,000 “coming from telephone rate payers.”

“The concept of a coordinated and controlled response to public safety makes sense,” Carroll said. “This is a surcharge for our first line of defense.”

Several other fire chiefs throughout the state supported the surcharge increase, although several communication-based organizations opposed using surcharge funds to explore the feasibility of a Maine Emergency Services Institute. Maine Public Utilities Commission spokesman Maria Jacques said the PUC was not in favor of “using surcharge revenue to services unrelated to telephone service.”

“Although creation of the institution may be needed, the PUC does not support the use of surcharge funds,” Jacques said. “We anticipate a flat increase in surcharge revenue as collection rates decrease as people are losing their landlines and going to cellular service or prepaid phones.”

 Osler said the Telephone Association of Maine also is not in favor of increasing the surcharge, a funding source Harrison Republican Rep. and committee member Richard Sykes called “the secret fishing hole.”

“The E-911 surcharge funds are not general fund money,” Osler said. “There is some federal funding out there for E-911 as long as [the surcharge] is only used for E-911. This could put that in jeopardy.”

Portland Fire Lt. Gene Cote, who currently instructs firefighters at the SMCC program, opposed the concept of a  Maine Emergency Services Institute for reasons other than its proposed funding mechanism. He said the proposed Board of Directors for the institution should be more diverse in order to represent emergency medical service staff as well as firefighters.

“The Board of Directors is not broad-based, all members of the Maine Emergency Management Agency should be represented rather than six fire chiefs,” he said. “The institute would only provide core programs, not enhanced training. The current system at least operates in a similar manner to that of the National Fire Academy. It would seem this is a cover for a state fire academy based on personal agendas.”

To check on the status of LD 1177, “An Act To Establish the Maine Emergency Services Institute,” visit www.mainelegislature.org and search for “LD 1177.”

Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.