Portland fire captain memorialized

By Ted Cohen/Patch.com

A former Portland Fire Department captain who died in a scuba-diving accident will be memorialized with a sticker placed on one of the city's new fire engines.

Michael Kucsma died while diving with a group of fellow swimmers eight years ago in Casco Bay.

Kucsma, 43, of Buxton, was a full-time captain with the Portland Fire Department and a deputy fire chief in Gorham.

To honor Kucsma's memory, members of the Portland department placed the sticker of badge No. 12 on the new Engine 6, which is being built by Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, WI.

Kucsma was a member of Engine 6 when he died.

While reviewing the progress of the construction, members of the department along with Engine 6 Capt. David Nichols who traveled to Appleton placed the No. 12 sticker on the engine.

Kucsma began his fire career as one of the first “live-in” students of the Gorham Fire Department in 1991, according to FireHero.org.

After graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree in political science, he worked his way up the ranks of the Gorham department while making Portland Fire Department his career.

"Kucsma was passionate about the fire service," according to the website. "He created the Rapid Intervention Team training program for the state when he found a gap in this type of training. If superior training did not exist, he would create and refine a program until it did. He also wrote articles regarding rural firefighting for Firehouse Magazine and served on the board of directors for the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Work Group."

"He followed everything with passion that he did," his widow Marcia Kucsma told the website in a tribute to her husband.

She said he had been interested in fire trucks since he was a child and that that fascination blossomed into a firefighting career.