The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 234 emergency incidents during the month of April including 40 box alarms and 194 still alarms.
The Department responded to four mutual aid requests during April, twice to Saugus, once to Stoneham and once to Lynnfield. The department received mutual aid fourteen times during the month of April, twice from Stoneham, Reading, Melrose, and Lynnfield and once from North Reading, Malden, Woburn, Middleton, Saugus, and Winchester. Wakefield Engine 2, under the command of Lieutenant Steven Kessel, assisted the Saugus Fire Department at a barn fire at 123 Howard Street, during the afternoon of April 30th.
Firefighters under the command of Captain Joseph Riley were dispatched at 4:55 P.M. on April 14th to a reported house fire at 28 Richardson Street. They were confronted with an old wood framed three family dwelling with fire spreading rapidly inside the walls and ceilings of the building. At least 6 of the 18 residents were home at the time and only the children spoke English. Four alarms were struck before the fire could be contained and extinguished. Fire apparatus from Reading, Stoneham, Melrose, Lynnfield, North Reading, Saugus, Woburn, and Middleton responded to the fire while trucks from Malden and Winchester covered Wakefield’s vacant stations. Excellent work by all crews on scene at the fire prevented it from spreading to adjoining buildings. All eighteen occupants were displaced from the extensively damaged building. The fire loss was estimated at more than $400,000. Extensive investigation failed to reveal an exact cause for the fire but it has been ruled accidental.
Despite the best efforts of Wakefield firefighters and police officers as well as Action Ambulance personnel, two year old Christopher Sardella accidentally drowned in his back yard at about noon on April 26th. An already tragic event was compounded by the fact that the little boy was the grandson of Wakefield Firefighter Lou Sardella. The entire department has struggled to come to grips with this tragedy and our thoughts and prayers are with the Sardella family.
Four Wakefield residents were sworn in as Wakefield firefighters on March 25, 2010. They are Christopher Curran of 19 Fox Road, Timothy Donovan of 66 Paon Blvd., Sean Giampa of 7 Old Colony Drive, and Gerald Sancinito of 31 Humphrey Street. All four men are United States veterans, Donovan and Sancinito from the Navy, Curran from the Coast Guard, and Giampa from the Air Force. All four men received two weeks of basic training at Wakefield Fire Headquarters before being assigned to their respective groups and all will be attending the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in July. The department continued to participate in emergency medical training classes during the month of April.
