The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 345 emergency incidents during the month of July including 27 box alarms and 318 still alarms.
The department responded to nine requests for mutual aid during July, five times to Lynnfield, twice to Saugus, and once each to Stoneham and Melrose. It received mutual aid three times during the month of July, twice from Reading and once from Stoneham. Crews from Engine 4 and Ladder 1 led by Lieutenant Joseph Albert and Lieutenant Phil Preston assisted the Lynnfield Fire Department at the scene of a second alarm fire at 10 Blue Jay Road during the evening of July 12. Lieutenant Joseph Albert and a crew from Engine 4 responded with the fire boat to Breakheart Reservation to assist the Saugus Fire Department with a water rescue on the lower lake during the late morning of July 18. Lieutenant Sean Curran and a crew from Engine 1 covered the South Lynnfield fire station during an extensive brush fire in that community during the early evening of July 21. Crews from Engines 1 and 2 covered vacant fire stations in Stoneham and Lynnfield during the day on July 22. The department assisted the Saugus Fire Department along with firefighters from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation at the scene of a 2 acre brush fire in Breakheart Reservation on July 23. The fire was located near the Spruce Path where it intersected the Ridge Trail, burning into the dry vegetation, requiring three days to fully extinguish.
Wakefield firefighters under the command of Captain Randy Hudson responded to a potentially serious fire at 510 Lowell Street during the morning of July 14. The fire started when a cardboard box came into contact with light bulb from a floor lamp. The fire was successfully extinguished by the homeowner prior to the arrival of the department. The fire was contained to the area of origin but caused a considerable smoke condition in the residence which was promptly vented by firefighters.
Captain Christopher Smith led firefighters from Engine 1 and Ladder 1 at the scene of a serious car accident on Route 95 North between exits 39 and 40 during the evening of July 9. Firefighters arrived to find the occupant of one of the vehicles trapped and quickly extricated the individual using the Jaws of Life to pry open a door on the vehicle. The occupant was then transported to an area hospital with a severe ankle injury.
Drought conditions in the area continue to result in numerous small brush and mulch fires in addition to the large 2 acre fire that occurred inside Breakheart Reservation on July 23. The month of July continued the weather pattern of hot dry weather that the region has experienced, drying out ground vegetation and increasing the overall risk of outside fires. Residents are cautioned to dispose of smoking materials properly to cut down the risk of mulch and brush fires.
Children participating in the Camp Quannapowitt YMCA Summer Program visited fire headquarters on July 26. A group of more than 40 children from the Middlesex Youth Public Safety Academy, a program sponsored by the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office, visited the Wakefield Fire and Police Departments at the Public Safety Building on July 27.
