April 2021

The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 282 emergency incidents during the month of April including 31 box alarms and 251 still alarms. The department responded to three requests for mutual aid during April, twice to Reading and once to Melrose. The department received mutual aid five times during the month of April, three times from Stoneham and once each from Reading and Lynnfield.

A crew from Engine 1 under Lieutenant John Mercurio covered Reading Fire Headquarters while crews in that community were tied up at a structure fire during the afternoon of April 4. Firefighters from Engine 1 under the command of Lieutenant Daniel Hancock assisted the Reading Fire Department at the scene of a 3-alarm fire at 292 Grove Street during the early morning of April 13. Firefighters from Engine 2 led by Lieutenant Christopher Crogan assisted the Melrose Fire Department at the scene of a structure fire at 5 Ledge Street during the morning of April 14.

Firefighters under the command of Captain John Walsh responded to a fire alarm activation at 20 Woodbury Road during the morning of April 5. Firefighters quickly determined the cause of the alarm to be an outside fire along the rear wall of the building in a pile of leaves and pine needles that had accumulated along the wall and inside a basement window well. Smoke from the fire entered into the boiler room and the first-floor corridors. The fire was quickly knocked down and extinguished. The residual smoke was vented from the building. There was no damage to the interior of the building except to some fiberglass insulation on some boiler room plumbing. The cause of the fire was accidental most likely due to the careless disposal of smoking materials. There were no injuries to either citizens or firefighters during this fire.

Another group of firefighters led by Captain John Walsh extinguished a fast-moving brush fire in the woods off of Sylvan Avenue during the late evening of April 10. The fire was contained to a 100-foot square area but had burned into the ground making it difficult to extinguish. The entire on-duty shift worked for more than two hours to completely extinguish the fire. The cause of the fire was an unattended campfire that extended into the surrounding brush. A Reading engine company covered Wakefield Fire Headquarters during the fire. There were no injuries as a result of this incident.

All Groups continued their annual in-service business inspections during the month of April. All groups conducted a walk-through of the new renovated apartment building located at 301 North Avenue as well as the ongoing construction project at 168 Albion Street during April. All groups also did a walk-though of the Rockledge Apartment at 11 Bartley Street. All duty groups drilled on various hose evolutions and practiced setting up and flowing water through the aerial ladder truck’s waterway.

Incident Response Report

Fire Prevention Report