FORT KENT, Maine — Ed Endee’s path to becoming fire chief in the northern Maine town of Fort Kent began in Windsor, Conn., where he was born in 1944. The son and grandson of firefighters, he joined the Windsor volunteer department at age 17.
Now, after a lifetime of fighting fires at both ends of New England, Endee is retiring on Sept. 1, capping a 62-year career just two months before his 80th birthday.
Endee will be replaced by fellow Fort Kent firefighter Cole Pelletier, who also serves as the town’s police sergeant and code enforcement officer. Pelletier has experience at fire departments throughout the state and worked with Endee in Fort Kent for several years.
Endee recently took time to look back on his life’s work as he prepares for what is actually his second retirement. He retired from the Hartford, Connecticut, fire department 30 years ago. Little did he know a second career awaited him.
Shortly after joining the Windsor volunteer department as a teenager, where he covered Poquonock, one of four sections in town, Endee joined the U.S. Navy. Upon returning home from the service, he started working at his family’s insurance business.
“I wasn’t liking it,” Endee said of the insurance job. “So I applied to the Hartford Fire Department and the Connecticut State Police.”
He soon had a job with the Hartford department, which had about 600 firefighters and 14 stations at the time.
“Even though I was a career firefighter in Hartford, Connecticut, I stayed in the [Windsor} volunteer fire department, too,” he said.
He said he responded to his first fatal fire while with the Windsor volunteer department.
“It was a lady that I knew,” he said. “She was an elderly lady that lived by herself. I remember pulling up, and I said ‘Oh, she’s not in there.’ But the guys went in and got her right away. I was driving the truck and I couldn’t go inside. But when they pulled her out, I knew she was dead.”
Endee said in Hartford the department dealt with fires nearly every day. Firefighters would work three days on, take three days off, and then work for three nights.
“We knew that if we didn’t catch a fire on one of those three days, something was going to happen,” he said.
He spent over two decades with the Hartford Fire Department, retiring as part of an early retirement incentive program in 1994.
“But I stayed in the [Windsor] volunteer fire department,” he said.
He stayed in Connecticut until his divorce in 2006. Then, in his early 60s, he moved to Fort Kent – one of the northernmost towns in Maine and the United States.
He said he would often snowmobile in Fort Kent, and that he was also one of about 20 different investors in the town’s Swamp Buck Restaurant.
“So here I am in Fort Kent, not going to join the fire department, because I’m too old for that,” he said.
But he soon got to know many of the town’s volunteer firefighters, who continuously urged him to join.
“I finally agreed and said ‘Alright, I’ll join the fire department,” he said.
After a year, one of the captains was stepping down and Chief Dave Pelletier gave Endee the position. And one year after that, the chief announced his own retirement.
“I said to the guys — you know I’m a captain, but you guys are all ahead of me. You’ve got an assistant chief and two other captains,” Endee said. “But one by one, they all dropped out, and weren’t interested.”
Endee eventually stepped up as the new chief in 2012.
“I said I’ll keep the seat warm for a couple years, any one of you guys can take over,” he said. “That was 12 years ago.”
Shortly after becoming chief, he said the town saw a series of intense fires. In March of 2012, Nadeau’s House of Furniture and three other adjacent buildings burned down.
“It was a big blow to the community to lose all those buildings,” he said.
And then, in October of that year, a GM car dealership burned down.
Throughout his career in Fort Kent, Endee used his prior experience to help improve the department and also to obtain more equipment via grant funding.
“I took some of the experience I had in Hartford and used it in grant writing,” he said. “And it was successful. We got several grants.”
Pelletier, the incoming chief, commended Endee for the steps he took to improve the Fort Kent Fire Department.
“I’ve worked at two full-time fire departments downstate,” Pelletier said. “And Ed has brought this fire department equal to those departments – just as good, if not better. And those guys were full-time departments with eight to 12 guys a shift.”
The Fort Kent department now has 25 firefighters, including Pelletier.
Pelletier said Endee worked to help the town obtain three new pieces of equipment worth roughly $1.5 million dollars combined.
Pelletier said Endee was also pivotal in getting the department involved with the Maine Department of Labor Safety & Health Award for Public Employees (SHAPE) program, which is a formal recognition that the department maintains exemplary health and safety standards.
Pelletier said he is confident that they can maintain the momentum that Endee brought to the department, but also noted that he will have big shoes to fill.
“He’s selfless, dedicated, and gives 300 percent to firefighting,” Pelletier said of the outgoing chief. “That’s all he’s ever done. He’s been a mentor for me and a friend.”
Town Manager Suzie Paradis commended Pelletier for taking on multiple roles for the town, and congratulated him for becoming the new fire chief. She also expressed gratitude for Endee’s work.
“I want to thank Chief Ed Endee for his years of dedicated service and leadership to our department and congratulate him on a well-deserved retirement,” she said. “Thank you for your unwavering commitment to our community’s safety and well-being.”
On August 29, dozens of residents stood outside the station as Endee acknowledged a page from dispatcher Julie Dumond for the last time. Dumond could be heard over Endee’s radio commending him for his career and the sacrifices he made for Fort Kent over the past 12 years.
“Congratulations on a very well-deserved retirement,” Dumond said. “May you be proud of the work you’ve done, the person you are, and the difference you have made. We wish you the best. Thank you for everything.”
Endee said it was a bittersweet moment.
“I have mixed emotions,” he said. “But I’ve got new adventures coming.”
Endee bought a 42-foot motor home that he plans to drive across the country in his retirement.
“I’m going full-time on the road in the motor home,” he said. “I sold my big house that I had last fall. I’m renting a house now, and I’m getting rid of everything that I can’t take in the motor home.”
Endee said he doesn’t have a specific destination in mind.
“I’m going to be anywhere that it’s 72 degrees. I”m never going to see snow again,” he said with a laugh.
Reflecting on 62 years of firefighting, Endee said he will miss the camaraderie and brotherhood the most. He said it was present at every department he worked at, but it was particularly strong in a small, tight-knit community like Fort Kent.
“We socialize together. we do chicken barbecues together,” he said. “We get up at two o’clock in the morning and start cooking chickens so they’re ready Sunday morning. The firemen are always helping each other, and that’s all part of the camaraderie.”
