Bob Perkins of the Winthrop Fire Department says his wife grows nervous when he and his firefighter sons Connor, 22, and Cody, 19, get called to fires or other emergencies.
“By now, she’s sorta used to it, but she still gets pretty nervous sometimes,” he said, “and she ends up listening to the pager.”
The Perkins family is one of four with members of two generations serving on the department. They make up about one-third of the department’s 33 staff members, which helps the department with crucial volunteer numbers, according to Fire Chief Dan Brooks.
“It’s a never-ending shell game to get people to join, and keep their interest,” Brooks said. “There’s always somebody coming on and somebody leaving. We do better than most.”
The department’s four families with multiple generations serving Winthrop: Roger Audette and son, Alex, 18; Mark Arsenault and son, Tyler, 28; Bob Perkins and his two sons; and Billy Cummins and son, Nathan Cummins, 21, and stepson, Andrew Bellegarde, 35.