The glow of a shed fire on Buck Island is seen Friday night. (Provided photo — Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department)

LAKE PLACID — This wasn’t a typical fire call, but one that the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department was ready for.

At 10:39 p.m. Friday, the department received a report of a shed on fire at Camp 521 on Buck Island, one of the three islands on Lake Placid lake. It was a breezy evening, and being on the shore of the lake furthered concerns that the flames could quickly spiral out of control — with a wooded area nearby and other properties on both sides of the parcel.

“A lot of people don’t think about the fire department responding on the water,” said LPVFD Assistant Chief Jennifer Marshall. “But of course, at times, we have to.”

A rapid response ensued, with one truck, three boats and 15 members from the department. Firefighters drove to the state boat launch off of George & Bliss Lane, where they launched the watercraft that they keep ready to go in a boathouse.

“We could see the fire — the glow of it — right from the boathouse,” Marshall said. “So we knew exactly where we were going before we even took off.”

Firefighters made the three-quarters of a mile trip across the channel to Buck Island — all under the darkness of night. Marshall said that, in a way, it was easier to navigate at night with the flames visible and the department not worried about heavy boat traffic that’s often on Lake Placid lake on a weekend summer’s day. However, it did require extra diligence near shore to ensure the fire boats did not accidentally bump into any nearby docks.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, they quickly got to work. The fire boat driver set up the pump system to access the lake water as all of the volunteers unloaded the tools and equipment, getting them in position to extinguish the flames.

“It’s a pretty complex situation,” Marshall said. “Everybody definitely has a job to do and is working hard to get it done.”

The Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department responded to a mutual aid request at 10:50 p.m., adding one truck, one boat and nine members to the response while the Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Department responded to standby at the Saranac Lake fire station during the mutual aid response. Marshall said the mutual aid call was made as soon as dispatch confirmed it was an active structure fire.

“That’s what we do now because we don’t know how many volunteers we’re going to get,” she said. “So just to make sure we have coverage, we’re almost automatically calling for mutual aid if there’s any confirmed structure fire.”

Firefighters were able to suppress the flames quickly upon arrival, containing the fire to just the shed and preventing it from potentially igniting the nearby woodland.

“If it had spread, we could have had a larger situation, for sure,” Marshall said.

The Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department was back in service at 1:58 a.m. Saturday and the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department was back in service at 2:41 a.m. Marshall said that despite the graveyard hours, when responding to a call, firefighters were focused and dialed in to the task at hand.

“Dedication goes a long way, and your adrenaline goes off too,” she said. “When that pager goes off, everybody’s ready to go. That’ll wake you up.”

Essex County Emergency Services sent a team to investigate the fire later Saturday morning, and the cause remains under investigation as of press time Monday evening. Marshall added that it did not appear to be a suspicious fire.