The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 245 emergency incidents during the month of January 2006 including 45 Box Alarms and 200 Still Alarms.
The New Year was only one hour and six minutes old when firefighters were called to Vernon Street and had to use the “Jaws of Life” to extricate three victims of a car vs. tree accident. A strong wind and rainstorm on the afternoon of January 18th kept firefighters busy dealing with storm related issues including a large tree that crashed into a home on Grove Street.
Wakefield Firefighters also responded as part of our mutual aid agreement to assist in battling two major fires that occurred in Reading. The first Reading three-alarm fire gutted a block of stores on North Main Street in frigid weather conditions during the early morning hours of January 16th, and we assisted Reading at a second three-alarm fire on Woburn Street in Reading Square on the morning of January 17th.
The Rotary Club of Wakefield donated a MARSARS Ice Rescue Sled and accessories to the fire department in January. This device will greatly enhance our ability to reach and rescue a victim that has fallen through the ice on one of our many bodies of water throughout Wakefield. This is an excellent tool that we are grateful to have but hope that we never have to use, and represents a gift in the order of $2,000 to the town.
Wakefield Firefighters Eugene Doucette III and Robert Ford entered the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy – Recruit Firefighter Training Program on January 9th. This is a 12-week program conducted at the Fire Academy facility in Stow that is provided at no cost to the community, and affords our newest firefighters with excellent BASIC firefighting training. They are scheduled to graduate on March 31, 2006.
During January the department hosted a Massachusetts Firefighting Academy training program entitled “Elevator Rescue”. This excellent 6-hour program instructed firefighters on techniques to use to rescue victims trapped in disabled or stalled elevator cars, something we are seeing more often in Wakefield.
