From The Forecaster: The Maine Fire Chiefs Association this week named Kevin Guimond its fire chief of the year.

Guimond joined the fire department in 1987 as a firefighter/paramedic and, by 2003, had worked his way up to his current position as chief, leading more than 100 full-time employees.

In his nomination letter, Guimond was praised for his efforts to keep residents safe in a 13-square-mile city that draws 13 million visitors a year to the Maine Mall area, while hosting the east coast's second busiest oil port and a thriving semiconductor industry.