Jeffrey Emanuelson lost power after the Dec. 11 ice storm like hundreds of thousands of others across the state.

But instead of hunkering down with his family for a long, dark weekend in front of a fireplace like so many others, Emanuelson – Salem’s fire marshal – went to work.

“This is what we do. Whether its a natural disaster, a major fire or a mass casualty incident, the fire service responds,” Emanuelson said. “When it happens you know what’s coming and you handle the situations as they come.”

The Hudson resident joined the rest of Salem’s senior management team in coordinating relief, rescue and repair operations across the community throughout that weekend, taking time off when he could to rest, eat and go home and check on his family.

Several days after the first power lines went down, things have pretty much returned to normal for the department.

Twenty-year veteran firefighter Dave O’Brien said that as the number of calls coming into the station slowed down, the department had let out a collective breath of relief.

“(After the storm) was pretty much the busiest call volume I have ever seen, multiple calls from wires down to trees in houses and that on top of the medical aid calls,” he said.

On top of responding to emergencies as they arose, O’Brien said the department had been out canvassing neighborhoods hit with the power outages, going door-to-door and advising residents on proper portable generator use as well as locations where they could find food and shelter.

Emergency responders in neighboring Windham – where around 1,000 homes remained without power a full week after the storm struck – faced similar challenges as their Salem counterparts.

According to Assistant Fire Chief Robert Leuci, his department’s regular 24-hour shift personnel had been augmented by firefighters coming in during their time off to work an extra 10 or 12 hours.

“We catch a nap here or there and we make a point to eat properly. No matter what, we’re taking care of ourselves,” Leuci said. “We get (our staff) in and we rehabilitate them so they can go out and work to the best of their abilities.”

Some of the strain was lessened by bringing volunteers to man a communications center to give out basic information concerning the power outage to residents, he said. Still, with many in the department local residents, Leuci said everyone was dealing with the “unspoken stress” of leaving families at home with no heat, running water or power.

“When we’re here helping everybody else, we also have our families to take care of at the same time. While our folks are out checking on the neighborhood, we tell them to check on your own family. We’re doing anything that we can do to help our firefighters help their families so that’s one less worry on their mind,” Leuci said. “I have got to give them credit, they’ve served above and beyond.”

In Salem, Emanuelson praised the dedication of his entire department throughout the crisis.

“No one is any different from anybody else. It’s a collective. There is no one individual that has done more than any other to make sure we have the assets available,” he said.