’I’d do it all over again’: Kittery Fire Chief David O’Brien retiring after 49 years

Like father, like son. David O’Brien, longtime chief of the Kittery Fire Department, remembers the moments from his childhood when his father, a volunteer call firefighter in town, would be summoned out of bed and ordered to an active fire scene. O’Brien’s mother would wake up, hand his father the keys, and off he’d go to fight the fire. O’Brien would wake up in their Badger’s Island home and, if the fire was roaring close by in Portsmouth, walk over to the Memorial Bridge to watch his father and the first responders work to hose down the scene. “I used to be 10 years old, and I’d walk across the bridge, no matter what time, 2 or 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, and go to the fire because I knew Kittery (firefighters) would be there,” he recalled. “My father would look for me to see that I was there, just to kind of take care of me. It was a different world. We would do that stuff.”
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Fire destroys family’s garage in Peru

PHOTOS: The state fire marshal's office is investigating the cause of a garage fire in Peru Tuesday night. The call to 833 Auburn Road came in shortly before 8:15 p.m., Peru Fire Chief Dan Carrier told NEWS CENTER Maine. When crews arrived, flames were beginning to spread to the nearby home, and people were trying to fight the fire with fire extinguishers, according to Carrier. Crews made sure people were out of the building before closing all doors to the garage to trap the flames and prevent them from spreading beyond the garage, Carrier said. Flames eventually shot through the roof of the garage. The first floor of the split-level home sustained some water damage but the home was otherwise unharmed, according to Carrier. The garage was destroyed by the fire. Seven adults and five children live in the home, Carrier said.
WCSH-TV NBC 6 Portland

Fire breaks out at home in Brooks

Flames broke out at a home in Brooks on Wednesday night. Crews arrived at the School Street home just before 8pm. Firefighters say they were able to contain the fire to one side of the building. They say the damage was minimized and that it shouldn’t be a total loss. ”When we arrived on scene, we had flames showing so we proceeded to extinguish them. We were able to confirm nobody was in the home at the time of the fire. The fire marshal will be investigating to determine the cause,” explained Brooks Fire Chief, Hans Albee. Four departments were on scene.
WABI-TV CBS/CW+ 5 Bangor