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Thornton Academy
438 Main St.
Saco, Maine, 04072
(207) 282-3361
STORY BY LISA EARNHARDT & STACEY CROCKER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARLA FORAN
DESIGN BY STEFANIE GOULET & CARLA FORAN
Dispatch to Engine 3,
"Stand by Saco, Engine 3"
The tones go off....
"Structure fire in progress. Engine responds immediately.
Code 3"
"Copy that, engine 3 in route"
"10-4."
Arriving at the scene on a fall day in 1995, Ladder One's driver Bill Madore is about to encounter the worst call of his career. A small boy, age 4, is trapped in the fire and it is all up to the firefighters of the Saco FD to save him. As the boy's helpless family stands by watching in horror, Madore and his men go into the burning building. Sadly enough the boy did not make it out alive and the men could not save that floor. Once the outcome of the call was final, Bill allowed his thoughts to shift back to the well being of his own son, also age 4, sitting safe at home watching cartoons with his mother. "I was thinking 'Oh my god that could have been my own son' Madore recalls seven years later.
Bill Madore, now the captain of the Saco FD will never forget this fateful day. As a firefighter Bill always used to say, "We can do that...Lets go in and get that fire."
Now as captain of the fire department, Madore sees it as an equally important part of his job to make sure everyone on his crew goes home safe.
Madore's new job as captain requires much more paperwork than before, but he still loves it. Madore goes around to Saco schools and teaches the "Learn Not To Burn" program as well as going to local businesses to do fire safety checks. Even though he is busier than ever he can still find the time to hang out with the guys in the FD and still considers them his second family.
Capt. Madore was born and raised in Arundel, Maine. His mother was a teacher and always wanted him to be very studious. Madore remembers sitting and reading with his mother for hours at a time. Even though his mother accepts that he is a firefighter, she still gets nervous when he goes on big calls. Madore's dad on the other had was a firefighter himself, and so was his grandfather. His grandfather retired from his position as the department chief in Biddeford after almost 30 years of service. Bill's sons, Jared 3 and Jacob 9, love the idea that their father is a fireman and Jacob already knows he wants to follow in his father's footsteps.
Madore's first memories were of his uncle's farm. His uncle lived next door and all of the rest of his family lived nearby. Madore spent the majority of his childhood years with his uncle and his grandfather, around animals, gardens, and in the woods which surrounded the farm.
"I remember how the animals smelled, the smell of fresh mown hay, the smell of wet sawdust from the large pile behind the old sawmill out back." Bill recalls, "I especially remember burning off the hay fields every fall and how the smoke filled the neighborhood well into the evening."
Being a firefighter is not a high paying job and Madore's wife, Sherri, makes more money then he as an architect. However most firemen, including Madore, feel the flexible hours of the fire department makes up for low pay. His hours consist of a 24-hour day then 48 hours off. That's just enough time to have a part time job. Bill's part time job now is as an excavator.
Bill believes that learning by hands on experiences instead of always learning by books is much better. However, he notes the new firefighters that are now coming in are college graduates with degrees in fire science. Becoming a fire fighter in '89 was much easier than it is now. To even think about going into the Saco Fire Department you must have a Level 1 Fire Fighter Certification. State certification at the paramedic level is also expected. An old saying in the fire department is "someone's gotta die before you get in there [the department]" and it's mostly true.
When new recruits first come on to the crew in Saco they start in Rescue and slowly move up the ladder to being a firefighter, a driver, Lieutenant, a Captain, and so on.
In the early days of fire fighting the fire department was run very politically. If a democrat was in office then all the fire fighters were democrats as well, and as soon as a new person was elected into office (if he was of a different political party) all the old firemen would be pushed out and all the new firemen would be of the new political party.
Firefighting is an amazing job and requires talent and bravery that only a few possess. Capt. Bill Madore has this talent and shows it everyday in his work. Madore admits that sometimes after all these years he still gets scared, but he lives to help people and fight fires. Like his father and grandfather before him he seems to be settled into making being a fireman a lifelong career.
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