A three-alarm fire caused $50,000 damage to the Curley Fuel building at Main Street and North Avenue in the early morning hours of September 3, 1969, a three-alarm fire caused heavy damage to a large shed on Guillow’s property at 40 New Salem Street during the early evening.
On Sunday, June 21, 1970, a 9:11 P.M. three-alarm fire at the old Hibernian Hall on Albion Street at the corner of Foster Street took the lives of a tenant and a visitor, despite efforts of firefighters to rescue them.
After a period of fifteen years as Chief of Department, William P. Hurton retired on August 31, 1970. On that same date, Captain Donald C. “Bud” Jacobs was appointed Acting Chief, pending the results of the Civil Service examination. On November 10, 1970, Captain Walter V. Maloney, Jr., who placed number one on the Chief’s exam, was appointed by the Board of Selectmen as Chief of Department.
The work hours were reduced; effective November 1, 1970, from 48 to 42 hours per week, and the permanent force was increased from 42 to 48 men.
The fire whistle, located in the hose tower of Central Fire Station, was discontinued for use on first alarm boxes, effective Tuesday, March 30, 1971. The fire whistle will continue to sound on all multiple alarm fires.
On March 25, 1971, a thirteen-month period of suspicious fires, many of them multiple alarm fires, began. At 10:14 P.M., a third alarm was transmitted for two separate fires in the vacant Pleasure Island Amusement Park off Audubon Road. One of the buildings destroyed was the old Greenwood depot station of the Boston and Maine Railroad, moved to the park about ten years before.
A three-alarm fire on Saturday, April 24, at 9:24 P.M. for a suspicious fire that caused heavy damage to the three-story frame rear section of the Mystic Industries building at 474 Main Street.
Just over a month elapsed before the next multiple alarm fire occurred when a suspicious three-alarm fire on June 8 destroyed the large one-story sheds on the former Berry property at 26 Chestnut Street, also causing heavy damage to the 2½ story frame house.
Another suspicious fire occurred in the early morning hours of July 30 when a three-alarm fire destroyed the large one-story frame Armor Fence Co. at 116 Foundry Street.
A suspicious fire destroyed the vacant Colonial Inn rooming house at 7 Richardson Avenue in the early morning hours of August 28 when three alarms were sounded on box 35.
The former Cowdrey Estate at 15 Morningside Road was heavily damaged by a suspicious two-alarm fire during the early morning of October 24, 1971. Containers filled with gasoline were found throughout this beautiful, vacant large house.
The last multiple alarm fire to occur in 1971 was on a Sunday evening, December 12, when box 335 was transmitted for a fire in the Atwell Building of Wakefield Memorial High School Complex on Main Street, opposite Richardson Street.
The first alarm was at 8:23 P.M., the second at 8:25 P.M., the third at 8:29 P.M.
The fire had gained extensive headway above the ceilings and through the vertical air ducts of the 191′ by 80′ three-story brick-joist main section. The fire also extended into the Auditorium and locker room section, which was a high, one-story frame and stucco building, 166’x156,’ attached to the rear of the main building.
The third alarm assignment, plus the special calls brought engine companies from ten communities. Additional ladder trucks were sent from Melrose, Reading, Winchester and Everett, including Malden’s new Tower Ladder 3, responding to its first fire. The Woburn snorkel also responded.
A total of 18 engines, 5 aerial ladders, 1 tower ladder, 1 snorkel, 2 rescues, 8 lightning plants, 1 C.D. engine, including all Wakefield’s apparatus, responded to the fire.
This building was originally built in 1923 as the high school. In 1955, a large addition was erected to accommodate the many students. The insurance loss paid was $1,370,111.30.
There were a total of 1343 alarms of fire during 1971, including ten second alarms and seven third alarms.
The year 1972 continued with the usual amount of suspicious fires. On January 18, Box 35 was received at 1:33 A.M. Three alarms were transmitted for the suspicious fire that caused heavy damage to the old G.A.R. Hall building at 7 Foster Street.
