FORT KENT, Maine — For roughly half a century, the Fort Kent Fire Association has helped save money and lives through its annual fundraising activities.
The group recently used proceeds to purchase multiple lifesaving Jaws of Life tools.
The fire department’s overall budget is relatively low compared to other town departments. The total amount appropriated for the current 2025-26 year budget was $171,678. Other town departments like police and public works were each about $1.2 million for the current budget year.
The association is the department’s primary way of helping to offset local costs. It raises funds to purchase equipment which would have otherwise been added to the town’s budget.
“We raise money all year with our chicken barbecue and gun raffle,” Fort Kent Fire Chief Cole Pelletier said of the association, adding they have helped the department buy numerous pieces of equipment throughout the years.
Sometimes donations come from other sources. Earlier this year, the Fort Kent Lion’s Club donated $7,000 to purchase a thermal imaging camera that will help firefighters find people during fires and help locate a fire’s source.
The association wrote a grant to purchase a spreader tool, which helps pry open vehicles and rescue occupants in emergency situations.
Fire Association President Cody Dubois said the association is technically an outside entity, but it consists solely of members of the Fort Kent Fire Department.
“There are some things in our budget that the town doesn’t cover, so we do fundraising like our gun raffle and chicken barbecue,” Dubois said. “The ladies auxiliary helped us do a fundraiser at the craft fair at [the University of Maine at Fort Kent] this past fall and we made french fries.”
Fire departments in other nearby towns in northern Maine, like Frenchville, also have exterior firefighting organizations to help purchase equipment.
Frenchville has a Fire Department Club, which hosts raffles and fundraising events, including a chicken barbecue, that helps them purchase equipment. Last year, the club worked to raise money for a new off-road vehicle to rescue people on the town’s ATV trails.
Dubois said some items, like the Jaws of Life tools, are not within the town’s budget or would exceed the budget if directly purchased by the department. Thanks to money raised, the group this year has bought a $7,000 combi-tool, a hydraulic device that can cut and spread metal, and a $12,000 ram that can help free victims from tight spaces.
A couple of years ago, they also purchased an extractor, which Dubois said is like an industrial washing machine that thoroughly removes bloodborne pathogens and other substances from firefighters gear. The $7,000 extractor ensures that firefighters aren’t breathing in anything harmful when they put their gear back on.
The main event for the association is its chicken barbecue, which raises between $10,000 and $13,000 annually. The gun raffle raises between $3,000 and $3,500, and the french fry sales raised about $1,500.
About half the money raised from the barbecue is profit, and the other half is typically spent in expenses related to the event, Pelletier said.
Dubois said the department has tried other fundraisers in the past, like a firemen’s ball. He said it had a decent turnout, but didn’t turn out as well as the barbecue.
The association also gives out a yearly $500 scholarship to anyone in Fort Kent who is the child of a firefighter.
Fort Kent’s fire department has been around since 1919, and Dubois and Pelletier both estimated that the association was first established in the 1970s. He said their efforts ultimately help taxpayers, as they allow the department to keep its budget down.
“We as an association, and as a department, try our best not to go crazy when it comes to asking the town for things,” Dubois said. “And there comes a point in time where we have to look at ourselves and say if we can’t get it as a department, then maybe we can do it through the association.”
