CARRABASSETT VALLEY – A book talk and signing with Ruth McCleery Watson, editor of The History of the Farmington Fire Department 1850-2000, will be held on Nov. 2 at 4:30 p.m. in the Begin Family Community Room at the Carrabassett Valley Public Library.
The 150-plus year chronicle of Farmington’s firefighting past was written by Robert McCleery and edited, compiled and updated by his daughter, Ruth McCleery Watson. The most complete history of this much beloved fire department that has ever been written by one of its own who “walked the walk and talked the talk” for 40 years.
The book includes 500 firemen listed by date of service & rank, 700+ fire incidents with 18 fatalities,68 incidents of property loss in excess of $50,000 listed by owner, location & cause, fire department apparatus purchases, by-laws & finances and town managers.
The book tells the story of the life of a fire fighter and it’s so much more than fighting fires. It’s to witness life’s best when working with children and citizens to make the town safer, rescuing a hiker on a mountain or finding a missing person, and life’s worst when you cannot save a person from a burning building, family pet, livestock, home and property or an accident victim, and when as a first responder, you respond to a murder or suicide scene.
It’s a history, a memoir, a biography and a daughter’s personal reflections.
