Page 11 - Newsletter Spring 2021

Fire Chief Cowperthwaite’66 to Retire
Dwight Cowperthwaite, '66 on the right will retire as the first Fire
Chief for the town of Littleton. He successfully led the department for
40 years. Pictured with him is Raymond Wotton ‘56, who was on the
Board of Selectmen in 1981 when the Town voted to support their
own department.
Dwight Cowperthwaite, the only fire chief the town
of Littleton has employed, will leave the position at
the end of the year with 40 years of service.
In April of 1981, residents of Littleton voted to
have their own fire department. They had previously
contracted with Houlton for fire protection but facing
increasing charges the decision was made to go on
their own.
“Where there’s a will, there is a way,” noted comments
from a previous article written that year, by the late
Pioneer Times staff writer, Kaye Trickey. “How could
a small-town community, comprising six square
miles with 300 households, organize and form a
fire department with volunteers and help from its
residents in such a short time?”
Within days, a new fire truck had been ordered and a
rebuilt water tanker was found. The late Cub Morse
was hired to plan and construct an addition on to the
Town Office. It was built with free labor and this was
accomplished by two “building bees.”
As well as the free labor, Glen Clarke of Maine Glove
Company and the late Reggie Walton, owner of
Walton Petroleum donated building materials. Clarke
and Walton were Littleton businessmen. Many other
private donations also contributed to the project.
PAGE 11
By Karen Donato ’69
Special to the Houlton Pioneer Times
Bob Askren, a former teacher at Houlton High School
made the wooden Littleton Fire Department sign,
hand carving each of the 27 characters into wood to
say, “Littleton Fire Department, 1981”. The sign has
weathered many storms and is still proudly displayed
on the building located on Route One.
In ‘82, the ladies of the town formed an auxiliary
to assist with fundraising and other needs for the
fire department. They continued in that role for
many years providing the firemen with much needed
equipment. The auxiliary sponsored craft fairs, sold
t-shirts, had penny drives, box socials, community
picnics, hunters’ breakfasts, created a community
birthday calendars and had a local cookbook
published. Through their hard work they provided red
L.F.D fire hats to the firemen, air pacs, a ladder, fire
department jackets, and replaced an overhead door at
the fire department among many other needs.
"Where there's a will,
there is a way"
In ‘96, a 32’x40’ addition that included two
additional bays was added to the existing building.
This provided room for a pumper, a pumper-tanker, a
tanker, and a wildfire/rescue unit.
In 2011, after 31 years and submitting grant
applications for many years, Littleton received an
Assistance to Firefighter Grant from FEMA for
$225,000.00 to replace an old gas tanker made into
a water tender. Two years later, the fire department
purchased a used pumper to replace the original ‘81
fire pumper, which had been leaking. In 2019 the
fire department received another FEMA grant for
$166,000.00 to replace a 1965 military truck, which
had been converted for wildfire use. During these
years of applying for funds from FEMA, they received
grants ranging from $40,000-$66,000 for equipment.
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