From closed fireplace dampers to a flooded commercial basement and a Route 17 crash, the Rockport’s volunteer fire department spent a long spell responding to a variety of calls. 

The first call came at 5:23 p.m., Dec. 28, when a guest at an Air B&B rental on Main Street in Rockport Village reported the apartment filling with smoke.

It was, because the damper on the chimney was closed, forcing the smoke to get pushed back into the living room. Apparently, the directions for using the fireplace had been written backwards by the landlord, and as the smoke circulated, alarms sounded.

Firefighters helped the guests determine the correct use of the fireplace.

The next call came two minutes later, at 5:25 p.m., from 11 Children’s Way, in Rockport, at the Camden-Rockport Elementary School, where a fire alarm was tripped. There was no indication of a problem there, so the firefighters cleared that scene.

The next 24 hours were uneventful, until 7:35 p.m., Dec. 29, when the fire alarm sounded at the Hospitality House on Old County Road. The Hospitality House is run by the Knox County Homeless Coalition and offers shelter, hot meals and helps people break the cycle of homelessness.

It was determined that a 2-year-old pulled the alarm there, and firefighters cleared the scene.

Then, just after midnight, Dec. 30, they were called back out, this time to Fox Ridge business center, to Camden National Bank offices, where water was quickly flooding the basement.

That was the night of the storm, which deposited much snow inland, and equally much rain along the coast.

Water running down Beech Hill began filling the basement, and when firefighters arrived with pumps, the floor was already covered by eight inches of water.

The elevator to the basement was stuck in front of the access to the building’s pump controls, complicating matters.

Rockport firefighters set up their three pumps and began moving water from the basement to the outdoors.

But the water was relentless, and firefighters were called back to the basement at 3 a.m. to confront 18 inches of water. More pumps were enlisted, and by later in the morning, Dec. 30, the five pumps were effective.

While still at that scene, Rockport Fire Dept. was called to another problem, at 9:21 a.m., to the report of a power pole and wires down at a Union Street location, near the entrance to Mid-Coast Solid Waste.

Fire Chief Jason Peasley left the Camden National Bank basement to investigate, but quickly determined that there was no pole nor wires down anywhere. The call was unfounded.

Rockport firefighters eventually packed up from the flooded basement and returned to the station, but just for a few hours.

At 12:30 p.m., a fire alarm was tripped at a business on Commercial Street, but there were no problems otherwise.

And then at 1:30 p.m., a crash sent firefighters, Rockport police and an ambulance crew from North East Mobile Health Services to Route 17, near Mirror Lake.

There, a driver, who was heading east in a Lincoln Town Car, caught the shoulder, and then over-corrected. That apparently sent the sedan across both lanes to the Mirror Lake side of the road.

The driver then veered back across the highway and landed in a ditch, against a pine tree.

“It’s a good thing there was no oncoming traffic,” said Peasley.

There were no reported injuries from that crash, and Rockport Police followed up with the report, while firefighters headed back to the station.

Approximately 14 firefighters had responded to all the calls over the preceding 48 hours. They were hoping to rest. For a bit.