Yankee Ingenuity at its Best

Firefighters were called to Farm Hill Road on a complaint of rising water in a basement around 7:30 p.m.

Responding firefighters found a steady flow of water covering the basement carpet. A sump pump was doing its job to get rid of some of the water.

Fire Chief Charlie Gagel said Maple tree seed pods had blocked the drains and the water had no place to go, but around the exterior of the home.

About 18-inches of water built up outside the ground level door, forcing it open. The homeowner was worried that her electrical items may be adversely affected by the flooding, and as the relentless rain continued to fall, the firefighters had to find a way to stop it from coming inside.

“The woman had several bags of wood burning pellets in the basement, so we carried them outside and built a dam,” Gagel said. “One of my guys took a shovel and cleared the drain while we made a levy out of about 20 bags of pellets. Good old Yankee ingenuity.”

A wet/dry vac was used to suck the water out of the carpet.