U-TURN: Truck doing donuts defaces fire station parking lot

Lifestyle

Oct 27

A truck driver did donuts at the Penobscot fire station. The fire chief is not amused.

Oct. 27, 2026

By John Boit

PENOBSCOT—A pickup truck pulled into the Penobscot fire station around 3:30 am early Sunday, Oct. 25. For nearly a minute, the driver proceeded to do donuts.

At one point, the driver, captured on camera, exited his vehicle to inspect his tires with a flashlight. He then climbed back into the truck—an extended cab, light color vehicle with temporary tags—peeled out of the parking lot, lost control, smashed into a school sign and struck several trees about 20 feet off the North Penobscot Road.

The driver was able to back out, pulling a tree with him, and left the scene.

Penobscot Fire Chief James Clarke discovered the damage only a few hours later when he arrived at the station to take a fire truck to a training exercise involving a half dozen other departments from the area.

The burnouts marred the station’s parking lines as well as specially painted markers on the pavement used for fire truck driver training.

Tire burnouts are a common activity in and around the Blue Hill Peninsula, as explained in the documentary film Tire Tracks. But Clarke said there’s a line that can be crossed.

“We painted the lines and the training squares in the last year,” Clarke said. “We rake and mow the lawn— now we have gouges in the lawn. The state has to come and replace the school sign. I’d like to have the person come and repair the damage they’ve done. He damn near clipped the station in one of the videos we have. Then he went to the school and cleaned out all the debris in his truck and left it in the school parking lot.”

Clarke reported the incident to authorities. Anyone with information is asked to contact Deputy Mariza Gionfriddo at the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department at (207) 667-7575.

[Full disclosure: The reporter for this article is a volunteer with the Penobscot Fire Department.]