On Feb. 12 at 7:20 p.m., Lincoln County Emergency Communications received a 911 call from a resident at 238 West Side Road on Barters Island in Boothbay. The caller said she saw smoke on her security camera in her home but was not in the residence. An immediate mutual aid call for a structure fire was initiated to Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb and Southport fire departments.

Boothbay firefighters, who lived nearby and were on scene within four minutes, found a structure with smoke and flames coming from the rear section of the residence of Robbie and Kristen Campbell. Boothbay’s Engine 2 was shortly on scene and was brought to the rear of the structure, where firefighters were able to execute an aggressive exterior attack of the rear of the structure and quickly knocked down the fire. However, since the fire had penetrated the ceiling and roof structure of the building, firefighters using ladders cut a hole in the roof to vent smoke and extinguish fire that was in the attic and truss sections of the ceiling. Additionally, firefighters conducted extensive interior operations for over three hours and were forced to take down sections of the ceiling to reach remaining pockets of fire that had spread throughout the structure.

Fire crews from Boothbay Fire established a large drop tank, a 15 x 20 rubber holding tank, which can hold 3,000 gallons of water, directly on West Side Road, and this allows arriving fire tankers the ability to discharge their water into the holding tank. A pumper engine then draws from the holding tank, sending water under pressure to multiple fire attack lines which stretch between 100 and 300 feet from the engine, and which allows firefighters to direct water in close proximity to the fire.  

Boothbay Harbor Fire established a water supply for tanker resupply at Boothbay Common, and fire tankers from Southport and Edgecomb Fire made numerous trips to discharge water into the drop tank, which was critical in supporting uninterrupted fire attack operations. Tankers had to make the 20-minute trip from West Side Road to the Boothbay Common fire hydrant to refill their tanks of 2,000-plus gallons of water, and return, so this was a complex and highly orchestrated and integrated fire operation.

Complicating the fire attack were deep snow and temperatures in the low 20s, which created dangerous conditions around the structure due to freezing water on the roads and yard.

Fire crews sprayed over 8,000 gallons of water on the structure and 32 firefighters were on the scene from the four responding departments.

Chief David Pratt noted, “We were on scene within four minutes, and had a good initial read of the situation and were able to get attack teams deployed quickly to the rear of the building. We had to conduct extensive operations on the roof and the interior of the building to find numerous hot spots and had a great mutual aid response and fighting this fire under very difficult conditions. Despite the cold temperatures, our water supply operations and fire attack crews operated flawlessly and a huge credit to all the fire crews who did a great job controlling this very difficult fire.”

Boothbay Region Ambulance Service was on scene providing medical rehab and treatment for firefighters, and Boothbay Region Fire Auxiliary also provided food, water and drinks for responding fire and rescue crews.  Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office assisted, and West Side Road was closed for five hours due to fire operations.

Fire crews from the four departments left the scene at 12:06 a.m., but then spent the next three hours at their respective stations until 3:15 a.m. conducting extensive resupply operations, such as refilling air bottles, repacking hundreds of feet of hose, cleaning contaminated gear and refueling apparatus.