By DOUG KESSELI
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
Copyright 2006 Bangor Daily News
ORONO, Maine — As emergency medical responders Scott Bolduc and Sam Monteith were returning to Bangor in their ambulance Wednesday afternoon after dropping off a patient at Orono Commons, they noticed smoke coming from a duplex on Forest Avenue.
Instinct and training kicked in.
Bolduc, a paramedic, and Monteith, an emergency medical technician, are also Bangor firefighters.
“Their first instinct was to help,” Dr. Robert Bowie, medical director for both the Bangor and Orono fire departments, said Wednesday.
Smoke was pouring from the side of the house, located across the street from the U.S. Post Office.
After pulling the ambulance over to the side of the road, the pair ran inside the duplex to a kitchen where some eggs had been left boiling unattended. They pulled the pot off the stove.
Orono firefighters arrived and aired the building out with high output fans.
The resident had left the home. Lt. Joel Sides of the Orono Fire Department said another five to 10 minutes and fire could have broken out. The firefighters’ quick thinking likely averted a more substantial situation, he said.
“It had the potential to be very serious,” Sides said Wednesday evening.