PLEASANT POINT, Maine — Fire Chief Maxwell “Chick” Barnes, 70, learned about a year ago that he was going to lose his leg.
The man who usually won battles with house fires couldn’t conquer his personal enemy — diabetes — but instead of giving up, Barnes vowed he would be back, and that is what happened.
Barnes walked into the fire station on his prosthetic leg Monday, ready to start work, and was greeted by family and friends.
The usually taciturn chief said it felt good to be back.
“I can do my job,” he said.
Asked how long he planned to remain fire chief, he said, “Until they put me in the ground.”
In March, the tribe honored the fire chief, who has worked for the department for 36 years.
He reminisced Monday about the changes he has seen.
When Barnes started working for the department, he had a pickup truck onto which he loaded the department’s fire hose. Soon after, Barnes attended the state’s fire academy.
But things are different now.
He said it was difficult to get volunteer firefighters to show up at fires. “One night … about two months ago, we had a fire in the attic [of a house] and only about three [firefighters] showed up,” he said. “It was the middle of the night.”
The Passamaquoddy reservation had to call the town of Perry to assist.
The problem of working with volunteer firefighters is not just on the reservation. “All through the nation, volunteerism has gone down,” he said.
Barnes’ son Joseph, who is the reservation’s police chief, was on hand Monday to welcome his father back to work. “It is a good sign considering last November or December when we sat talking about him losing his leg and a year later he is back to work,” his son said.
Joseph Barnes said he was not surprised that his father faced losing his leg head-on. “’You call my doctor,” Chick Barnes told his son last year. “I want to be operated on next week. I want them to take my leg because I want to be home for Christmas for my grandchildren.”
Although the fire chief lamented the problems attendant with a small volunteer turnout at fires, his son said the 13 personnel the department has are well-trained.
“I know the numbers probably aren’t where he’d like to see them. But he has highly trained guys that work for him and that’s what matters in the end. The response time for the guys is pretty impressive,” Joseph Barnes said. “Even though the numbers are down, he has a highly trained department; most of the men on the department are at least Firefighter 2.”
That contrasts sharply with the past. “I can remember when I was a kid. I was probably 11 or 12 or so, where he threw a jacket on, threw boots on, threw gloves on and went into a building with a helmet and no air pack,” Barnes said of his father.
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