FRENCHVILLE, Maine – Over two dozen businesses in northern Maine’s St. John Valley region have contributed to an upcoming raffle to help the Frenchville Fire Department obtain a new off-road vehicle to rescue people on the town’s ATV trails.
Town Manager David Cyr said the department currently has a snowmobile equipped to rescue people on the trails during the winter, but they don’t have the same capability in the summer. It’s looking to buy a heavy duty type of ATV known as a utility terrain vehicle, or UTV.
“We don’t have an ATV, so you’ve got to rely on whoever’s available to provide us with an ATV,” Cyr said.
Cyr said he and officials have been talking about getting a rescue ATV since 2022, when an individual died from an injury while cutting trees on a local trail.
“He was doing maintenance, and unfortunately he was injured fatally,” Cyr said. “And so, at that point, we started having discussions about if we should have our own ATV equipped to move somebody in the event of a fatality or an injury.”
He said another advantage of purchasing a UTV will be that it can be outfitted with a water tank to help the fire department respond to forest and grass fires.
“The machine will serve a couple of purposes,” he said.
Assistant Fire Chief Eric Blanchette said they are looking at a Can-Am Defender 6-wheeler equipped with a 6-foot bed. He said this would easily allow emergency responders to fit an individual in the back and transport them to safety.
Cyr said the town has roughly 15 miles of ATV trails within the community.
In 2023, Cyr said Frenchville received a $10,000 challenge grant from an anonymous benefactor to help the fire department purchase extrication equipment.
After launching a successful fundraising campaign and purchasing the equipment, Cyr said the benefactor once again reached out to the town in 2024, offered to do another $10,000 matching grant and asked what equipment Frenchville would need.
This time, the town decided to use the challenge grant toward the UTV, which is estimated to cost roughly $31,000 altogether.
The board of selectmen voted to spend $11,000 in town money on the vehicle. Cyr said some of this funding has been offset with $1,000 from Versant as part of the company’s 100-year anniversary grant program. He said the town has also sought donations from the private sector.
The Fire Department Club, a separate organization that raises money for the department, will be responsible for the remaining $10,000.
The club’s fundraising plan includes distributing raffle tickets that will be drawn during an April 27 chicken barbecue. Tickets are $10 each and over two dozen businesses from the region donated prizes ranging from 100 gallons of oil, three months worth of free garbage pick-up and gift cards for grocery stores and restaurants.
“Between this fundraiser and our chicken barbecue in April, we think that we can achieve the $10,000 goal that the club is going to be responsible for,” Blanchette said.
Blanchette and Fire Chief Peter Parent said the department usually just does the chicken barbecue each year, but that the raffle is a new addition.
Parent said the tickets were distributed earlier last week and are selling quickly.
Blanchette said it has been nice to see so many nearby businesses contribute to the cause.
“Each firefighter hit up a few different businesses,” he said. “And a lot of them are more than willing to put something forward to contribute to this. It’s nice to see the support.”
