A dedication to service: Shelter Island F.D. Chief Max Pelletier

It was mid-afternoon in the summer of 2013, and Maximilian Pelletier was at home after work, dressed in gym shorts, on a sleepy Shelter Island day. Suddenly he noticed a powerful odor and saw smoke billowing from a Electric Gem car parked near a 100-pound propane tank next to a house across the street. He immediately ran over, shouting, “Get out! Get out!” to alert anyone inside. 

Quickly and calmly surveying the scene, he grabbed a garden hose and began putting water on the fire. Soon fire trucks arrived. After the scene was secured, one of the Shelter Island firefighters asked the young man with bemused admiration: “Why aren’t you with the department?”

He soon was. Already interested in volunteering because Island friends were joining up, and after participating as a volunteer at the Department’s legendary Chicken Barbecues, the 20-year-old officially joined the department in November 2013. His rise among the Island’s bravest has been rapid, to say the least.

In 2016 he was named Shelter Island Fire Department Firefighter of the Year, an honor bestowed on the volunteer who has answered the majority of emergency calls and has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the Department and the community. And now, at 32, as chief, he leads the 65-member, all-volunteer Department. 

The Reporter spoke with him after the department had wrapped up its weekly training session on Sunday, Aug. 17. The sessions are held every Sunday morning to keep members fresh on procedures and equipment, and also to let members know what’s expected of them in the coming week. This session, Chief Pelletier said, was on basic hand-hose and truck training, and also to get a briefing on The Country Fair coming up this Saturday, Aug. 23.

The Country Fair will return to the Center Firehouse grounds on Saturday, Aug. 23, spearheaded by the Lions Club as part of their 75th anniversary observance this year. The beloved day of family fun has been missed by Islanders, with fond memories of a barbecue, music and games to pass a summer Saturday. Live music will be performed by Erich Carey and the Constituency, who are donating their time and talent. A pig roast and traditional barbecue are planned, with games and festivities for the whole family.

The Fair is also supported by the Fire Department and Women’s Auxiliary, as well as the Chamber of Commerce, with proceeds going to support the Department.

Islanders with long memories recall that The Country Fair was started by Al Kilb, in the early 1980s when he was chief of the Fire Department, along with Eric von Carp, who was active in the Red Cross ambulance service as well as the Fire Department, and a few others. “The main reason,” Mr. Kilb recalled recently, “was I wanted to show the community that the members of the Fire Department had skills and talents that no one knew about. They weren’t just a bunch of beer-drinking guys.”

ISLAND BORN AND RAISED

Chief Pelletier is a harelegger, that rarest of Islanders. The designation is given to those who are born on the Island, not in hospitals in Greenport or Southampton or elsewhere. (There are several theories on the term’s origin. One has it that Greenporters would call Islanders hareleggers for the way they dashed like hares to catch the last North Ferry home.)

The chief graduated from Shelter Island High School and then went on to the New England Institute of Technology in Rhode Island for Marine Mechanic training. He works at Safe Harbor Marina in Greenport. He and his fiancé, Jackie Arthur, and their 3-year-old son, Maximilian Jr., rent his mother Beverly’s house on West Neck Road, with Ms. Pelletier living there as well.

Asked if the unusual moniker is a family name, Chief Pelletier said, no, it was just a name his mother liked. “But I guess now we’re making it a family name,” he said with a smile.

He’s answered many emergency calls. One that sticks out was close to home, when just a few days before Christmas last year, a call came in at 6:30 a.m. of a house fully engaged with fire just off West Neck Road. More than 50 firefighters from the Island, Sag Harbor and Greenport responded, and Southold F.D. came to back up if any other Island emergencies needed a response. Two people escaped unharmed, and it was a tough, wearying battle until the fire was knocked down and brought under control. 

Chief Pelletier noted that the blaze — which sent up smoke that could be seen for miles — was close to being a catastrophe, since the house was in woods, and there were many homes nearby, including his own.

He noted that the response was due to what he terms the three C’s: “Courage, Commitment and Community.”

A CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

It’s not just the call to respond to emergencies that concerns him these days, but a need for more volunteers to join him and the members of the Department to live the life of the three C’s. Shelter Island is not alone in requiring volunteers to keep functioning at a high level. According to the Firefighters Association of the State of New York (FASNY), staffing at volunteer fire departments across New York has fallen by 20,000 in the last decade.

Shelter Island Fire Department statistics show that in 1980 there were 173 volunteer firefighters; today there are about 65, Chief Pelletier said. Of those, there are only 20 “interior firefighters” (those who fight fires internally), with the remaining members in exterior roles, such as moving hoses, setting up ladders and Fire Police, who control traffic and divert it away from the scene and the Department’s water sources.

There are several reasons for the fall-off in volunteers, the chief said, including the high cost of living on the Island these days, especially for young families. House prices have increased steadily, freezing out many families, and, as Chief Pelletier pointed out, young people often have side jobs in addition to their principal employment, just to make ends meet, which leaves little time for volunteering.

But the chief noted that there are benefits in joining the department beyond serving and protecting the community, including college tuition reimbursement, free equipment and training, and in some cases property tax reductions. These benefits are in conjunction with those offered by towns and the state. In addition, there is the Length of Service Award Programs (LOSAP), which is, in effect, an earned pension system, which kicks in after age 65.

Under LOSAP, volunteers earn benefits by performing activities, such as answering a certain number of emergency calls and attending drills and training sessions. In addition, points are awarded for community service, such as the annual Steak Dinner and The Country Fair.

To get information on volunteering for the Shelter Island Fire Department, contact Fire District Secretary Michael Johnson at 631-749-3369. And, the chief said, just ask any member of the Department for information, or attend a session on Sunday mornings, 10 a.m. to noon, at the Center Firehouse.

The deepest rewards are more than the individual benefits, he said. He knows this as a person who never looked back on his decision to join and answer the call for his fellow Shelter Islanders.