After having battled the elements during the winter storm two weeks ago, Marion officials are offering their appreciation to the town’s first responders.

On Tuesday, the Marion Selectmen and Police Chief Lincoln Miller commended the Police and Fire Departments as well as the Harbormaster and the staff of the Department of Public Works.

“It was a unique situation,” Miller said. “The storm lasted almost 24 hours. It really taxed the services of the town.”

The storm began on Friday, February 8, and continued until Saturday. By Saturday morning, roughly 97 percent of NSTAR’s Marion customers were without power.

Of the emergency calls, Miller said the Police Department received 124 more phone calls than it did in the same time period the weekend before the storm hit. At one point, the department received 13 emergency calls in just 17 minutes.

“It all happened at once,” Miller said. “It taxed services, but we were able to handle it. In 50 hours, nearly two-thirds of the town had power restored, which is amazing considering the damage.”

As for first responders, Miller said many officers and firefighters spent the weekend sleeping on cots in the departments.

“All of my officers did an outstanding job. They were overwhelmed, but they managed to get through it. This is teamwork. All of our people put in a lot of time and effort while worrying about the same things everyone else was. There were a lot of good people that rose to the occasion,” Miller said.

The Selectmen agreed.

“I want to thank everyone involved,” said Selectmen Chair Stephen Cushing. “It was a great job. I was amazed how smoothly it went. There was an enormous amount of damage.”

Town Administrator Paul Dawson, who also assisted dispatch at the Fire Department during the storm, commented on the high number of calls the EMS received.

“It was very impressive,” Dawson said. “There was so much going on. There were a lot of EMS calls and we were able to cover them all with our own crew.”

Miller added that town officials have started to fill out the necessary forms to seek reimbursement from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.