Hannah Kaufman – Morning Sentinel, Waterville, Maine
(TNS)
Aug. 23—A former Fairfield resident has given the fire department a $367,600 donation, after first responders helped his parents through health conditions.
Allie King III, 67, of Westport, Connecticut, donated the money in honor of his mother and father, both lifelong residents of Fairfield who relied on local emergency medical services.
“My father had a heart problem,” King said. “Anytime they needed to call rescue, they were always so efficient and effective and showed up, and were so great with everything they did.”
King was raised in Fairfield and attended Fairfield Junior High and Lawrence High School. He grew up playing hockey with former fire chief Duane Bickford, who looked after King’s parents when they struggled with health complications later in life.
King established the Al King Family Foundation to support important causes in town, making annual donations to the fire department and food pantry. But after Bickford’s death in 2024 and the closure of Waterville’s Northern Light Inland Hospital in June, he said he wanted to do something more.
“It just seemed like the ingredients were there for something bigger,” King said. “That’s when I started to think: ‘I wonder if they need another rescue unit or an ambulance?'”
The grant will fund a 2025 ambulance. King’s donation follows months of failed attempts for the town to purchase a used ambulance, which began when the motor on Fairfield’s lone medical pickup truck failed in October, making it difficult to respond to calls until the truck was fixed. The truck, Med-One, carries medical supplies and equipment that allows for basic or paramedic services while waiting for emergency transport services to arrive.
Fire Chief Travis Leary said King’s offer came as a shock.
“It’s right out of the blue, for sure,” Leary said. “It’s kind of funny, we always joke around about stuff like that, about: ‘I wish somebody would donate us some money.’ Then it actually happened.”
Councilors voted to accept the donation on July 23. It can take years to secure and build an ambulance in central Maine, but Leary said the department was lucky to find one at a shop in Bangor. He hopes to order it in September and have it in use by fall.
It could last the town 10 to 15 years, he said.
The ambulance can carry more equipment than the pickup truck, which will be turned into a utility vehicle, and will provide shelter for patients and first responders who would otherwise be forced to wait outside for Delta Ambulance, the region’s transport service.
Unlike Waterville and Winslow, Fairfield does not have a license to transport patients to the hospital. Instead, it contracts with Delta. But some residents say Delta’s heightened fees and unreliable wait times are not worth the expense, and that the ambulance donation could be an opportunity for Fairfield to go out on its own.
Fairfield has no immediate plans to start its own transport service, said Michelle Flewelling, Fairfield town manager.
“Of course, we did promptly tell people that just because they’ve accepted the purchase of this, in no way, shape or form means that we would instantly start transporting,” Flewelling said. “That’s a conversation that needs to still continue to happen.”
The town approved three new firefighters in the budget and has filled two of those full-time positions.
King has reflected on his time in Maine ever since he le