PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Pagers beeped around 4 a.m. across rural western Maine, rousing firefighters during their July Fourth vacations with reports of a rail disaster in Quebec.

In less than an hour, the first hit the road. Even 30 miles away, firefighters saw black smoke billowing from the town of Lac-Megantic. Red lights flashing, their trucks crossed into Canada, waved through in a sign of the urgency.