Monday, July 17, 2000e-mail this storyEmergency workers hold expo Down East By Mary Anne Clancy, Of the NEWS Staff MACHIAS — Workers for almost every emergency service in eastern Washington County were at the University of Maine at Machias on Saturday, but they weren't responding to a call for assistance. The fire departments, search and rescue dogs, ambulance and hazardous-material crews, law enforcement agencies, and Maine Forest Service and LifeFlight helicopters were on hand for the Washington County Emergency Services Exposition, the first of its kind in Washington County. The event was planned initially as a recruitment fair for the county's volunteer fire departments, according to Dan Pugsley, a captain with the Machias Fire Department and a member of the Machias Area Mutual Aid Training Committee. ''But the idea caught on [and] a lot of other people wanted to be involved,'' Pugsley said. ''We're already starting to talk about next year.'' The university, which opened the doors of its Olympic-size swimming pool facility for Saturday's event, became involved through the efforts of one of the chief planners, Gary Derickson, a member of UMM's security staff, Pugsley said. The Machias Area Mutual Aid Training Committee includes nine fire departments from Jonesboro to Lubec and Cutler to Wesley, and meets once a month for training, Pugsley said. Judging from the information booths and demonstrations, the county is prepared for anything from a repeat of the January 1998 ice storm to a major chemical spill. Darren Ireland, the captain of both Georgia-Pacific Corp.'s hazmat team and the Baileyville Fire Department, said the mill has 25 technicians who are trained in hazardous-material containment. G-P has trained an additional 10 firefighters from fire departments in the area and both crews respond to hazardous material emergencies within a 35-mile radius, he said. Susanne Kynast of Sunrise Search and Rescue said her group of trained volunteers has headquarters at the University of Maine at Machias and conducts ground searches for missing persons, sometimes in coordination with Maine Search and Rescue Dogs. Maine Search and Rescue Dogs, the only resource of its type in Maine, was formed in 1983 with the help of the Maine Warden Service. The group is made up of volunteers and provides handlers and dogs to assist in locating lost or missing persons for the Warden Service, Maine State Police, the State Medical Examiner's Office, the Maine Marine Patrol and local police departments. Debbie Palman of the Maine Warden Service and her dog Anna and Teresa Gajate and her dog Perry demonstrated air and ground tracking techniques to an enthusiastic crowd. Anna, who is also trained to find fish for the Warden Service, sniffed out the contraband that Palman had hidden in the wheel well of an abandoned car on the demonstration grounds. Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Kate Fleury demonstrated the skills of her dog Eika in finding drugs, using the same old car. Eika, who is deaf, reacts to hand signals from Fleury. Other demonstrations included the use of the extrication devices for removing accident victims from their vehicles, a ladder rescue and firefighting demonstration, and a variety of forest fire fighting techniques by the Maine Hot Shots, a group of trained volunteers who assist the Maine Forest Service. Also, smoke-blinded firefighters used self-contained breathing apparatus and their training to navigate through an obstacle course. Participants were offered the opportunity to don firefighting gear, wear a self-contained breathing mask and squirt water through a fire hose nozzle. The Machias Police Department took digital pictures of children, and the Maine State Police took children's fingerprints for parents who requested it. The Washington County Sheriff's Department was also on hand, distributing information about their role in Washington County's Safe School project. Return to previous pag