On Friday, August 8th, as Hurricane Debby struck the North Country it made a busy 24 hours for most fire departments in St. Lawrence County. Potsdam Fire requested all available manpower to man the station. Volunteers and Paid Staff manned the station from 1630 hours to late Saturday morning. Then again Saturday from around 0800 hours to late afternoon.

During this time, Potsdam Fire answered 93 calls for service.

The calls ranged from roads washed out, flooded basements, disabled vehicles, ceiling collapse, propane tanks under water, carbon monoxide incident, gas leak, electrical issue, and a possible vehicle fire.

Due to the numerous of calls and unable to pump water at some calls due to the volume of the water in the village. The fire department started a pump detail list where homeowners could be added to a list to have a crew pump the residence.

Saturday morning, manpower and pumps were requested from West Stockholm Fire, Hannawa Falls Fire, and West Potsdam Fire to pump all the requested basements. All crews met at Potsdam Station where they were assigned locations to pump basements and mitigate the issues. Potsdam Fire would like to thank Village of Potsdam Public Works, Potsdam Police, Potsdam Rescue, and all fire departments that assisted during this time. If anyone still requires a basement pump out, they may contact the Potsdam Fire Station at 315-265-3311 or 315-265-3312.