The indignity of fire — it struck on a sunny , hot and cheery summer Monday at about 3 p.m. The first warnings were muffled explosions and the sound of running feet on the sandy pavement in front of the shop. I was soon closed up and had joined the runners. We, typical humans, were running toward the fire, not away from it. Fire trucks from all over the Island were arriving one after the other, all so carefully driven and parked in the available spaces in that crowded end of Menemsha near the Home Port. Pickup trucks nudged their way in between them, and from the trucks men and women were stripping down and climbing into heavy yellow fire suits complete with helmets.

They headed into the fire zone with no hesitation. Within minutes, a tent and umbrellas were set up in front of the Galley. All the food personnel had been released from their duties and ordered out of the area but the owners, including the Fenners, Nixons and Kevin Oliver of the Menemsha Market were grabbing bags of ice and bottles of water and heading for the fire zone.

It was a very hot fire and it moved very quickly. I do not know how firefighters can withstand that kind of heat. I had to move back from the bluff because of the waves of heat. Police appeared and cleared the roads and continued to do so until dark. On the other side, small boats were leaving the bulkhead dock and Dutcher Dock and heading out of the harbor. Many remained off the beach, waiting to be allowed to return some six hours later. The basin was a danger zone with one burning boat adrift and moving toward the gas dock. Quick thinking and brave actions prevented the fire from moving to that area.

All this happened as Menemsha lost the landmark Coast Guard boathouse with her jaunty red roof. I can remember Menemsha before the boathouse, but I had come to associate it with my stored memory picture of Menemsha. The boathouse was built in the years after the devastating hurricane of 1938. That storm had swept away the Life Saving Service dock on Pilot’s Landing in Gay Head. The U.S. Coast Guard took over those duties and built the boathouse to house their 36-foot boats. They maintained a watch from that boathouse during World War II when all fishermen had to be checked in and out of the harbor daily. Residents were proud to have the Coast Guard presence in the harbor and have fought in recent years to keep them in Menemsha.

The containment of the fire was made possible by the hard work and heroic efforts of many of our neighbors and friends and fellow Vineyarders. I especially noted the work of the Chilmark fire chief David Norton, the Chilmark harbor master Dennis Jason, the Chilmark police chief Brian Cioffi and all who worked with them. The business owners were generous with food and drink and other offers of support. I came away lamenting the loss of a landmark but filled with pride that I lived among such brave and willing people who fought an adversary without hesitation.

One final comment: the morning after, a trip to the area showed no sign of the heavy traffic of people and machinery of the night before. There was not a scrap of debris. Someone had swept the road. My town, I love it.

Jane Slater writes the Chilmark column for the Vineyard Gazette. She owns Over South in Menemsha.