The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 258 emergency incidents during the month of February including 29 box alarms and 229 still alarms.
The Department responded to 4 mutual aid requests during January, three times to Melrose and once to Saugus. The department received mutual aid eight times during the month of January, twice from Lynnfield and once each from Reading, Stoneham, Melrose, North Reading, Middleton, and Saugus.
Wakefield Engine 2, under the command of Lieutenant Kevin Carney, assisted the Saugus Fire Department at a working fire in a commercial building on Hamilton Street during the afternoon of February 12th.
The Wakefield Fire Department experienced its first multiple alarm fire of 2010 during the evening of February 7th. Firefighters under the command of Captain Joseph Riley were dispatched shortly after 9 P.M. to 472 Water Street to find fire overlapping out of a window and doorway of a rear apartment unit. The fire extended into the attic area of this 200 year old home, requiring 3 alarms to summon a sufficient amount of resources to extinguish the fire. Lynnfield, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, North Reading, and Saugus sent mutual aid to the fire while companies from Middleton and North Reading covered the town for other emergencies. No one was hurt during the fire, which was determined to be accidental from an undetermined electrical source in the bedroom of the rear apartment.
A section of scaffolding erected in front of 111 Water Street collapsed in heavy winds during the evening of February 8th. Fire crews under the command of Captain Richard Smith worked closely with employees of the Wakefield Municipal Light Department to take this scaffolding apart and lower it to the ground. The three hour process was made more difficult by the fact the scaffolding was tangled in the main electrical feeds for two buildings. OSHA was notified to investigate the circumstances surrounding this incident.
During the evening of February 9th, a homeowner on Broadway noticed a strange powdery substance on the ground of a vacant lot across from 161 Broadway and notified the Wakefield Fire Department. None of the area residents knew anything about the spilled material necessitating a limited response of the Metrofire Hazardous Materials Incident Response Team to rule out any toxic or hazardous substances. The substance was analyzed and found to be harmless.
A violent wind and rain storm kept the department busy during the evening of February 25/26th, requiring more than forty responses for wires arcing, downed trees and power poles, and weather related water problems.
All duty shifts conducted a familiarization tour of the new National Grid “Wakefield Junction” power substation located at 123 Montrose Avenue during the month of February. All tours were conducted by National Grid personnel and were instrumental in establishing an operating procedure for emergency responses to the substation.
