April 2014

The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 284 emergency incidents during the month of April including 26 box alarms and 258 still alarms.

The department responded to four requests for mutual aid during April, all four times to Lynnfield. It received mutual aid once during the month of April from Melrose.

Despite a relatively wet April, ground vegetation quickly dried out due to the large number of windy days during the month. The department responded to 13 brush fires during the month of April. A crew from Wakefield Engine 1 assisted the Saugus Fire Department and a fire crew from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation locate a brush fire inside Breakhart Reservation during the afternoon of April11. A crew from Engine 2 led by Acting Lieutenant David Shinney extinguished a small brush fire behind 6 Blueberry Lane during the afternoon of April 24. A firefighter working a detail during the carnival at the Galvin middle School parking lot spotted a column of smoke coming from the area of hart’s Hill during the early evening of April 24. Crews under the command of Captain Richard Smith quickly responded and found approximately three acres of brush burning near the top of the hill. The entire shift remained on scene for almost three hours while a Melrose engine covered the town. Firefighters returned twice to Hart’s Hill during April 25 to extinguish hot spots from the April 24 brush fire. Wakefield residents are reminded that outdoor burning season ended on May 1 for 2014.

The department, along with the Melrose Fire Department, participated in the annual Boston’s Wounded Vet Run on April 27 by draping a large American flag between the two communities’ ladder trucks as the motorcycle procession passed by in front of the Most Blessed Sacrament Church in Wakefield. This patriotic display was well received by the thousands of motorcyclists participating in this annual event.

The department conducted pressure testing of all of its fire hose during the month of April. An evacuation drill was conducted at the Northeast Regional Vocational School on Hemlock Road during the morning of April 29.

The department’s new aerial ladder truck has arrived in Wakefield after being driven out from the Seagrave plant in Clintonville, Wisconsin. The truck is being outfitted with a new radio and other assorted equipment as well as being lettered and detailed. Preparations on the new truck will continue and it will be placed into service sometime in late May once department members have received training on the operation of the new truck

Incident Response Report

Fire Prevention Report