THOMASTON, Maine — After 42 years of serving the community, Fire Chief Michael Leo announced Monday night he will be retiring in a little more than a month.
“He is amazing, He is an unsung hero. He has dedicated his life to Thomaston,” Town Manager Valmore Blastow said Tuesday.
The announcement that Leo would retire May 1 because of his health took the manager by surprise.
In a 2012 interview with the BDN, Leo, a Rockland native, pointed out that he moved to Thomaston in 1971 and became involved in the community after attending a town meeting in 1973. That was when Roy Moss, who operated the local funeral home and the ambulance service, announced he was going to stop providing ambulance service in the following year.
Leo said he went home and spoke to his wife, and they agreed he would get together with other residents to put together a town ambulance service. For the next 12 months, the group met weekly to plan how to start such a service. They met with folks in other communities that had ambulance services, including Rockland, and they took training classes and posted fliers around town seeking volunteers.
Leo and the other founding members also went along with Moss on emergency calls to get prepared for their startup on April 1, 1974.
At first, the single ambulance acquired from Moss was parked between the town’s fire trucks.
Leo got to meet the fire department crews and in 1977 he was hired to serve as a dispatcher for both the fire and police departments while still running the ambulance service. He joined the fire department as a firefighter in 1980.
He rose up through the ranks and in 2004 was appointed as the town’s fire chief. At that point he gave up the ambulance position to devote more time to the fire duties.
Blastow said Leo’s focus has always been on the community and the members of the department.
The town manager said a hiring process will be initiated, and he will appoint a new chief once that is completed.
At Monday evening selectmen’s meeting, the board confirmed Blastow’s appointment of Robert Coombs to the position of assistant fire chief effective April 1.
Other promotions announced were Ben Adams and Tony Leo to captain, and George Erickson, Earl Sutherland and Francis Brandon, III, to lieutenant.