WATERVILLE — Like large sections of the country, Waterville has endured bitter cold in recent days, prompting the community to scramble to get residents into heated indoor spaces as temperatures fell well below freezing.
Teresa Crawford, training coordinator at the Waterville Fire-Rescue Department, coordinates with the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter & Services and the Waterville Police Department to ensure no one is left outside during extreme cold.
“We are going to find a place for people to go, no matter what. That is nonnegotiable,” Fire-Rescue Chief Jason Frost said.
During the big blizzard of 2023, the warming center on Front Street opened primarily to help elderly residents who had lost power and relied on oxygen. Fewer than 60 households in the city had electricity at the time. In the aftermath, the department secured a generator for the site to use during future extreme heat or cold events.
But the shelter cannot operate without volunteers, and during the recent cold front it did not have enough staff to open. Frost and Waterville police, along with Crawford, worked with Katie Spencer White, president and CEO of the Mid‑Maine Homeless Shelter & Services, to direct people to the shelter’s overflow rooms.
The shelter also has its own warming and cooling centers, which are typically closed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but remain open all day during extreme weather.
The shelter has about 55 full‑time beds, which are typically occupied. It also maintains 25 overflow beds in its warming and cooling centers, which have not yet reached capacity. Those spaces also rely on volunteers to operate.
City officials said there is no dedicated budget for the Waterville‑run centers, which operate only on an emergency basis. The threshold for opening them is set by the state’s emergency alerts.
Winter is a particularly dangerous time for the unhoused community, and Waterville emergency departments have worked to build trust and maintain strong relationships with those living outdoors.
Todd Stevens, the Police Department’s community outreach coordinator, plays a crucial role in that work.
When Portland began clearing unhoused encampments, Waterville officials met individually with residents of the city’s informal waterfront encampment to identify barriers to permanent housing — and ultimately placed everyone.
“Treat them humanely, treat them like a person, and they will be more willing to eventually accept help,” Frost said.
He credited Stevens and Crawford as major reasons the city has been able to build these relationships.
City officials said Waterville was prepared for the recent cold snap and snowstorm and reported no major issues housing people.
“We are a pretty well-oiled machine,” Frost said.
Going forward, Waterville’s emergency departments hope to work more closely with the Mid‑Maine Homeless Shelter & Services to avoid duplicating services and support greater staffing levels.
For information on volunteering, visit the city’s website.
