January 2018

The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 355 emergency incidents during the month of January including 50 box alarms and 305 still alarms.

The department responded to three requests for mutual aid during January, once each to Melrose, Saugus and Waltham. It received mutual aid eight times during January, twice from Stoneham and once each from Lynnfield, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Saugus and Woburn. A crew from Engine 2 under the command of Lieutenant Sean Curran assisted the Saugus Fire Department at the scene of a structure fire at 2300 Founders way at noon on January 10. Lt. Michael Long responded to 101 Clematis Avenue in Waltham as a member of the Massachusetts District 2 Hazardous Materials Response Team during the afternoon of January 15. The team was called out to assist the Waltham Fire Department with the extinguishment of a fire in a container filled with aluminum shavings located at the site of a welding business.

Firefighters under the command of Captain Paul Pronco responded to a structure fire at 7 Furness Circle in Wakefield during the afternoon of January 26. The fire was discovered by an occupant returning home from food shopping at 12:24 P.M. Firefighters arrived in three minutes to find a fire on the first floor in the kitchen area inside the single family home that had created a dense smoke condition throughout the home. A second alarm was struck bringing additional firefighters from Melrose, North Reading, Reading and Stoneham to the scene. The first arriving firefighters did an excellent job of quickly knocking down the fire, confining it primarily to the kitchen area and adjoining concealed wall and ceiling spaces. Heavy smoke resulted in zero visibility conditions during the fire, requiring firefighters to break open many windows and cut a hole in the roof to vent the residence of smoke. There were no injuries as a result of the fire. The four occupants of the home will be displaced for an extended period until repairs can be made to the building. A total of four pets were rescued from the home, including two cats rescued by firefighters shortly after their arrival. The cause of the fire has been determined to be accidental possibly involving the failure of a kitchen appliance or wiring.

All groups continued to conduct ice rescue training during January. All groups conducted walk through familiarization tours of the new apartment building at 600 North Avenue as well as the ongoing Wakefield Station construction project at 175 North Avenue. All of the department’s self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) was flow-tested by an outside vendor during January. The department’s air compressor, used to refill air bottles for SCBA was also inspected and tested. Both the SCBA units and the compressor successfully passed their inspections.

Firefighter Joseph Treacy successfully graduated from the ten-week recruit training program at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy on January 22, 2018. Firefighter Treacy has been assigned to Group 1 under Captain Randy Hudson. The department welcomes Firefighter Treacy to the department and wished him a long and productive career in the fire service.

The Fire Prevention Bureau continues to monitor construction work at the Wakefield Station project located at 175 North Avenue. This project, when completed, will contain 60 condominium units, a parking garage for residents and three new commercial spaces.

Incident Response Report

Fire Prevention Report