Potsdam Fire, Potsdam Rescue, and County Car 7 were dispatched at 1504 hours to a reported chimney fire at 41 Pierrepont Avenue on Friday January 23rd. Engine 49 (Crowe) and Rescue 14 (Andrus) responded and arrived on scene at 1507 hours with Tower 5 (Dave McGregor) arriving shortly thereafter. Once on scene, firefighters accessed the chimney on the B side of the house and it was quite evident that there was a significant fire going in the chimney. Firefighters went inside to the wood furnace in the basement and found the pipe was glowing red hot. The fire in the firebox was extinguished to remove the source of heat from the fire. After accessing the chimney, firefighters removed the cap and used the chimney chains to clean out the creosote that had built up in the chimney, extinguishing the remaining fire. Members also provided traffic control around the scene so traffic could continue to flow on the busy roadway.

As firefighters were going back in service at the chimney fire, Potsdam Fire was dispatched at 1554 hours to a fire alarm activation at Clarkson University Camp Building. Engine 48 (R. Robar), and Tower 5 (Dave McGregor) responded from the station, and Engine 49 and Rescue 14 responded from the scene of the chimney fire. All equipment arrived on scene at 1557 hours, staging around the front of the building. Chief Perry sent two members in to investigate where the alarm was reported to be and found nothing. The cause of the alarm was attributed to a system malfunction. Potsdam Fire was back in service at 1652 hours.