Fire Chief Troy Cailler stands in the Sabattus Fire Station. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Troy Cailler, a Lewiston firefighter, was hired to head the fire department in Sabattus in March of 2020. At the time, it was speculated that Cailler, at 27, might be the youngest fire chief in the state. It was hard to know for sure. Nobody kept track of that kind of thing.

Regardless, Cailler’s almost two years as chief have been successful by any metric. When he took the position, he immediately set his eyes on making improvements to the department. Recently, we caught up with Cailler to get his thoughts on firefighting and other matters.

How did you get into firefighting? I was brought into the job by my father. My father was a Lewiston firefighter when I was born and all I could remember while growing up was him doing that. I used to always look up to him as a real-life superhero and said I wanted to be just like him when I grew up. When I was 16 years old I joined the Litchfield Fire Department and started the journey down my fire service career. One of the greatest honors of my life so far was the fact I was able to work alongside my father for 8 years at the Lewiston Fire Department. He recently retired this past year after 36 years on the job. I will forever be grateful for him inspiring me to do this job! 

How did 2021 treat the Sabattus Fire Department? Much like 2020, 2021 was very good to the Sabattus Fire Department. We have had some ups and downs, just like everyone else throughout this year, however I believe we had many more positives than negatives. The first huge positive was increasing the per-diem staffing from one firefighter/EMS provider a day Monday to Friday to two firefighter/EMS providers a day Monday to Friday. At the Sabattus Town Meeting in May the town voted to increase our staffing by 50 percent. Without their support this wouldn’t have been possible. Everyone saw this as a huge benefit to our organization and community.

The Sabattus Fire Department has been called to more than 575 calls for service this year. These calls have ranged from building fires to a twisted ankle and everything in between. Without hesitation our members have responded and provided the highest level of care.

In 2021 the Sabattus Fire Department has added eight new members to our roster. These people range from a retired fire chief, to full-time firefighters/paramedics with other career departments around the state, to brand new members with zero fire or EMS experience. With these people coming to work for our organization we are quickly growing our roster with highly trained and dedicated fire service professionals.

The Sabattus Fire Department has been very lucky in the respects of grant funding. In 2021 the . . . department was awarded a combined total of $60,456.38. These grants have allowed us to purchase new equipment and upgrade some older outdated equipment to help make our jobs much more effective and efficient. The equipment purchased ranges from a Lifepak-15 cardiac monitor to ballistic vests for our fire/EMS members.

What has been the highlight of your chiefdom so far? I would say the highlight . . . so far is how much the department has grown and progressed in just under two years. When I took over as chief in March of 2020, the department was just starting to get back up and running to where it should have been. There was a lot of issues with apparatus and equipment. In my short time we have been able to get a few new trucks and upgrade a lot of outdated and old equipment. We also have streamlined our truck layouts and made the trucks much more functional and user friendly in my opinion.

We also have increased our roster numbers. When I took over there was mainly a call company roster with members living in town. Now we have many members that work for us that live outside of the community. We have people that live in Raymond and Yarmouth that commute to Sabattus for their shifts. These members are also very active in the after-hours of attending meetings and trainings to help make our organization as successful as it can be.

Without the support of the community, town select board, town manager and members of the Sabattus Fire Department, this transition into fire chief would not have been easy. Even though I took over at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it all seems like it has been a breeze for me — I have so many people on my side that have helped me grow this organization. So for all of them, I say thank you! 

What are your expectations going into 2022? 2022 is already shaping up to be a great year. Starting January 1st, the Sabattus Fire Department will be staffing with two per-diem firefighter/EMS providers seven days a week from 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Additionally, the department will be starting a new program of an “on-call” member each night. This “on-call” member will be responsible to respond to all fire/EMS calls in the town during their night shift. These programs are being funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which is a COVID-19 relief package for all municipalities to use in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These two projects were presented to Town Manager (Timothy) Kane and the select board members in November. All members of the town government saw the positives and potential benefits of these projects and wanted to see them funded without hesitation. Without the continued support from the townspeople and the town government, the Sabattus Fire Department would not be where it is today.

As 2022 moves on there are a few big projects that we are currently working on. Hopefully there will be more exciting news to share soon! 

What do you do when you’re not fighting fires? When I am not fighting fires, I am usually trying to find something that promotes mental health and a healthier lifestyle. On my days off in the winter time I try to ski as much as possible. I enjoy skiing with my girlfriend and many friends from work. In the summertime I enjoy spending time on the water with my family and friends. I also enjoy cooking a lot. It’s one of my favorite things to do around the station.

When we are not fighting fires at work we are usually prepping for the next possible emergency call we respond to. We are preparing by training on fire or EMS skills, reading trade magazines, following online training pages, or just discussing strategies and tactics we’ve used in the past at incidents. We are always learning and preparing to provide the highest level of service possible.