December 2021

The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 371 emergency incidents during the month of December 2021 including 31 box alarms and 340 still alarms. The department responded to four requests for mutual aid during December, twice to Melrose and once each to Lynnfield and Reading. The department received mutual aid sixteen times during the month of December, four times from Reading, two times each Lynnfield, Malden, North Reading and Stoneham, and once each from Melrose, Middleton, Woburn and Saugus.

Wakefield firefighters under the command of Captain Randy Hudson responded to a report of a structure fire at the Colonial Point Apartments, 95 Audubon Road, at 11:25 A.M. on the morning of December 5. The fire was reported by an occupant of Unit 302, who discovered the fire after returning home from doing errands. The building’s fire alarm system activated at approximately the same time, alerting the department to the fire via the municipal master box as well as a private alarm monitoring company. Upon their arrival, firefighters found a fire in the unit’s kitchen area that created zero-visibility smoke conditions. The building’s sprinkler system had activated inside the unit, slowing the fire from spreading but not extinguishing it due to its location during cabinetry. First alarm companies hooked up to the building’s standpipe system and extended a hose line into the apartment, quickly knocking down the fire in approximately 20 minutes. Smoke poured from the burning apartment into the common hallway on that wing of the third floor and made its way up the stairwell via the partially open stairwell doors where the hose line extended into the hallway. Realizing that all of his personnel were tied up actively fighting the fire, Captain Hudson immediately requested a second alarm at 11:41 A.M., bringing apparatus from Stoneham, Reading, Melrose and North Reading to the fire. These companies were used to relieve the spent Wakefield crews. Chief Michael Sullivan and Deputy Chief Tom Purcell arrived at the scene and initiated an expanded Incident Command System, with Deputy Purcell assigned with controlling and extinguishing the apartment fire on the third floor while Chief Sullivan oversaw the deployment of additional crews on the other floors of the 12-story apartment building to vent theses areas of any smoke and carbon monoxide accumulations. This was accomplished by ordering a third alarm at 12:18 P.M., bringing in companies from Saugus, Woburn, and Lynnfield as well as a mix of first and second alarm companies as they became available. The incident was completely controlled by 3:13 P.M., when the all-out was sounded. The fire was confined to the kitchen of apartment 302, which suffered extensive fire, smoke and water damage. The other six apartments in that wing on the third floor as well as several units on lower floors under apartment 302 received various degrees of water and smoke damage. Approximately a dozen building occupants were displaced as a result of this fire. Building Management initially found shelter for them in the nearby Four Points Sheraton Hotel at 1 Audubon Road. The American Red Cross and local Emergency Manager Thomas Walsh also assisted the displaced occupants. There were no injuries to building occupants as a result of the fire, however, one Wakefield firefighter suffered a serious laceration to his left hand requiring a number of stitches to close. The remainder of the building’s occupants were able to remain in their apartments. The cause of the fire was determined to be accidental in the vicinity of the kitchen stove area. A Malden engine and ladder company and a Middleton engine covered Wakefield Fire Headquarters during this incident.

Captain Randy Hudson led fire crews responding to an extensive fuel spill near the intersection of Water and Farm Streets during the early evening of December 14. Firefighters soon discovered that a nearby business refueling its vehicles accidentally released a quantity of diesel fuel that subsequently ran into the street and down to the nearby intersection. A small quantity of diesel fuel extended into several nearby catch basins before they were diked by responding firefighters using an absorbent material. More than 50 bags of absorbent material were spread by firefighters across the intersection as the streets were slick due to the spilled fuel. The Wakefield Department of Public Works dispatched a sander to the area as well to assist with this effort. The responsible company retained an environmental clean-up consultant to remediate the spill under the supervision of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Captain Randy Hudson again led firefighters at the scene of a reported house fire at 185 Oak Street during the morning of December 21 after an occupant reported a basement fire at that location. Arriving firefighters found an upholstered chair in the basement burning. The chair was extinguished with a hose line and then removed from the dwelling. There was no extension of the fire beyond the basement chair, however, the remainder of the home suffered some degree of smoke damage. Emergency Manager Thomas Walsh responded to the scene to assist the home’s three occupants. No one was displaced as a result of this fire and there were no injuries. The cause of the fire was determined to be hot cigarette ashes that had fallen inside the upholstered chair.

Wakefield Firefighter Arthur Fennelly was sworn in as the department’s newest Fire Lieutenant on December 15. Fennelly, a 7-year member of the department, was sworn in during a brief ceremony held in the community room of the Public Safety Building officiated by Wakefield Town Clerk Betsy Sheeran. Fennelly is a registered Emergency Medical Technician and is serving with the United States Army Reserve as a Captain and the Company Commander of a logistics unit consisting of approximately 170 soldiers. Lieutenant Fennelly’s service includes a deployment with a transportation unit to Kuwait and Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. He also holds an Associate’s Degree in Fire Protection and Safety Technology from North Shore Community College as well as a Bachelor of Science in Fire Science Administration from Salem State University. The department wishes Lieutenant Fennelly well in his newly appointed position.

The department has been significantly impacted by the recent surge in Covid-19 infections, responding to approximately 83 calls where patients with Covid-19 were either confirmed or suspected to be present. Area hospitals are once again filling to capacity again. Emergency rooms are overflowing with patients infected with Covid-19 as well as other ailments. The department is well equipped with skilled Emergency Medical Technicians equipped with personal protective equipment and stands ready to meet the challenges created by this surge. Members of the public afflicted by non-Covid-19 emergencies should not hesitate to call for emergency medical services as local hospitals are well equipped to deal with both concurrently.

All department members participated in Emergency Medical Technician training classes during December provided free to the department by Cataldo Ambulance. The remaining quarterly fire inspections of schools, nursing homes, hotels and lodging houses that were pending were completed in December. All groups continued to conduct drills on the vacant homes on Tarrant Lane that are now being razed for an upcoming development. Several groups practiced ice and water rescue procedures in December. The department’s aerial ladder truck and ground ladders were all tested in December and repairs were made as necessary.

Incident Response Report

Fire Prevention Report