100 Years Ago: 1925

Roads and sidewalks in all parts of Lewiston and Auburn were filled with slush and water Wednesday. Walking was bad all over town and “very bad” in some sections due to the February thaw. Superintendent A. G. Roy of the Lewiston street department said that a large crew was out correcting the worst conditions. He said that 2,000 men would be needed to remedy conditions everywhere, immediately.

50 Years Ago: 1975

Who’s black and white and wears a red collar?

“Sparky” the fire dog, that’s who. And the winsome black and white spotted Dalmatian puppy who made his debut at the Lewiston Central Fire Station today may be the most lovable public figure to come along in a dog’s age.

Weighing ten pounds, with a tail as long as he is, “Sparky” fits handily into a fireman’s boot these days, but right now, eager firefighters are more anxious to direct him elsewhere.

“Where’s the paper?” the fireman yells.

“Your Turn.”

“You pick it up this time. I’ll take the next turn,” comes the response.

Bringing up “Sparky” may be work for a while, but the firemen know it’s worth it.

The Lewiston Fire Department once before had a Dalmatian. His name was “Mike” and he was with the department for eight years, right up until his death from old age in 1963.

“Mike used to be assigned to the Aerial,” Fire Prevention Bureau Director Robert Dionne recalled today. “He rode on the Aerial until he got so old he couldn’t hold on anymore.”

“Sparky” — known as “Sparky V Lewiston Fire Prevention Bureau” to the pedigreed crowd — got his first look at the fire engines, the hats, the boots, the hallways and the rest of the fellas today.

Presented to the Bureau Friday by the Downeast Pet Center, the purebred is staying with Director Dionne.

“‘Sparky’ is undergoing a training program now with emphasis placed on the aiming of a hose stream,” Dionne remarked wrly.

“Sparky” will have a more serious job to do later.

Named after the national fire prevention mascot, he’ll help Director Dionne put the “fire-is-dangerous” message across.

25 Years Ago: 2000

Matthew Hunt saw the TV pictures of firefighters, the red flashing lights and the burned Boody Street apartment in Brunswick. He heard the reports of the teenage boy who suffered massive burns and was fighting for life in a Boston hospital.

But it was the next morning, when he convinced his mother to drive him past the fire scene on the way to school, that he realized his best friend, Adam Paul, was the one who was hurt.

Paul is still fighting three weeks later. The Shriners Hospital in Boston listed the 15-year-old’s condition Thursday as “critical and unstable.”

And Hunt, who has cried for his friend, said he too is fighting. With his parents, Hunt, also 15, came up with the idea of holding a benefit supper to pay for some medical bills or replace some of the things Paul lost when his home burned. He took that idea to administrators at Brunswick High School who brought it back to the students: the nine-member service learning class.

“They didn’t have very much and they lost everything,” Hunt said. “I knew he would do the same sort of thing for one of his friends. He would do something for me.”

The material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared although misspellings and errors may be corrected.