Meet Miss Flame 2023 Caroline Bruno: Title is more than just a York Fire Dept. tradition

YORK, Maine — Caroline Bruno has ridden in plenty of parades for the York Village Fire Department’s Field Day, but never in the top spot held by Miss Flame.

The daughter and granddaughter of longtime Village firefighters, Bruno graduated from York High School in June, making her eligible to wear the Miss Flame sash and crown.

“I’ve been waiting since I was little,” Bruno said. “It’s really cool to have this honor.”

The annual parade kicks off at noon on Field Day Aug. 19, an event in its 107th year. The day includes a firemen muster in which firefighters demonstrate their skills through a series of challenges.

Departments from around the region are invited to participate. The York Beach Fire Department holds its own Field Day with a parade and muster each summer as well, with one trophy in their department showing their event going back to at least 1934.

“It’s a longstanding tradition that we will certainly keep going with for many years to come,” York Village Fire Chief Chris Balentine said.

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Firefighters in York talk about Field Day like they do a major holiday, deeply embedded in their culture.

As a young boy, York Village fire Lt. Stephen Carr said he chased fire trucks around town on his bicycle, listening to a scanner. He started with the department as an explorer at 14 years old and always looked forward to Field Day, like it was a “family vacation.”

“For as long as I can remember, this has been the most exciting day of the year,” Carr said.

The parade formation of fire engines and other vehicles will start at 11 a.m. at Woodbridge and York Street. When the parade leaves at noon, it will go down York Street through York Harbor and the Village. Its destination is Moulton Park, where the muster will take place along with food, games for kids and up-close encounters with fire trucks.

The muster will include games involving firefighter equipment that test the speed with which participants can complete tasks. A dry hose exercise will have teams assemble a hose before running it to the finish. A wet hose exercise requires the same task, after which water is sent through the hose and aimed at a target. A race, where competitors rush up a fire ladder to ring the bell, will also be held.

Musters were once more common, today’s members recalling days where nearby departments came together to test their skills against each other. Balentine said it is important for the department in York Village to hold the annual event. He said the department includes families like his own, with a few generations in the ranks who look forward to Field Day each year.

“We’d be letting them all down if we didn’t keep going,” Balentine said. “So, we’re going to keep the tradition alive.”

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Miss Flame Caroline Bruno raised in York Village fire family

Bruno, 18, loves the Miss Flame title, because of what the Fire Department means to her family. Each year, Miss Flame is a different girl who is a relative of a York Village Fire Department member and a graduate from York High School that year.

Bruno’s father, Jamie Eslinger, is a current firefighter, and her mother, Amanda Bruno, was also one before leaving to become a nurse. Bruno’s grandparents, Mike and Sue Bruno, were also firefighters for 17 years.

Bruno’s grandfather Mike, a lieutenant, was a role model for Caroline Bruno, who said she recognized him to be “one of the best” lieutenants she had ever seen. He died in May at 72, and Bruno said she learned she would be Miss Flame only a few weeks later.

“It was just kind of like a sign from him,” Bruno said.

Bruno plans to attend the University of Southern Maine and is planning on a career in law enforcement. The blue runs in her family as well, her grandfather having been a police officer.

Bruno said no one in her fire family has given her a hard time about picking blue over red. Carr said police and fire are not big on rivalry in town, though they once held a softball game in which the two competed. Some police participated in the muster last year.

“We let the police win a couple of trophies,” Carr joked. “They might have a few firemen trophies down at the lobby, but that’s a pat on the back.”

Carr said, in the end, both services go hand in hand when a crisis strikes.

“It’s all right,” Carr said. “It’s all helping the public.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Caroline Bruno named Miss Flame: York Fire Dept. readies for Field Day