Michael Doyle’s rant against the use of the Falmouth Marine Patrol boat is tiring. The boat and personnel attended the Harpswell and Portland lobster boat races under a mutual aid pact that has existed in Maine since the very beginning of time, known as public safety, AKA: help your neighbor.

Examples of mutual aid agreements are: Portland Fire Department’s Ladder 4 Company responding to certain priority fire calls in the Pleasant Hill area, Portland’s MEDCU responding to Falmouth on medical calls when our ambulances are busy and vice versa, our Police Department backs up surrounding departments and vice versa, and our Marine unit provides back-up and mutual aid to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Portland harbormaster and vice versa. You can bet that at any large incident, surrounding communities would respond to Falmouth without thinking twice.

A few years ago, a tour vessel ran aground near Basket Island at about 10 p.m. Portland’s harbormaster, the Coast Guard, Portland’s fire boat, and our Marine unit responded immediately to evacuate approximately 100 people on board. At another incident, our Marine Division was first on scene at an off-shore plane crash, and although it had fatal results, our units were able to retrieve a loved one for closure to that family.

My personal thanks to the men and women of Falmouth’s public safety team. Keep up the good work.

Dave Libby, ret. deputy EMS chief
Falmouth