Breaking News: Majority of Citizens do not want a Separate Orono Fire Department

During the 3/11/24 Orono City Council meeting, Orono Council member Alisa Benson presented a tabulation of the citizen comment cards. Calculations show that 26% were for the fire department, 60% were against the fire department and 11% had more questions regarding fire service.

Why didn’t the City Council invite its citizens to a town hall to present this proposal to start a new fire department? Why isn’t the Orono City Council being honest and disclosing how expensive a new fire department will be to the taxpayers?

Why wasn’t this all talked about in the city newsletter until after the city council started to begin recruiting firefighters and spending millions on equipment?

And why isn’t Mayor Walsh being transparent on how understaffed and ill-equipped this start up fire department is and now plans on beginning servicing Navarre in July? This is unacceptable and scary for those citizens who will be losing their established fire service this summer.

It is not too late to keep the professional fire service we rely on now. Ask to stop this tens of millions of dollar boondoggle and keep our established fire service with Long Lake Fire. Your house and personal safety should not be put in play.

#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono To watch the video: https://youtu.be/Ri4eozm-jL8?feature=shared