July 2021

The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 382 emergency incidents during the month of July 2021 including 34 box alarms and 348 still alarms. The department responded to nine requests for mutual aid during July, three times to Lynnfield, three times to Melrose, twice to Reading and once to Saugus. The department received mutual aid three times during the month of July, twice from Stoneham and once from Lynnfield.

A crew from Engine 2 led by Lieutenant Joseph Albert assisted the Melrose Fire Department at the scene of a structure fire at 62 Reading Hill Avenue during the early morning of July 9. Firefighters from Engine 5 under the direction of Lieutenant John Mercurio assisted the Saugus Fire Department at the scene of a 3-alarm fire at 18 Richards Street during the morning of July 10. Sadly, this fire claimed the lives of two elderly citizens. A crew from Engine 1 led by Lieutenant Cliff Silva covered a vacant Lynnfield Fire station while that department dealt with a ruptured gas main. Firefighters under the command of Lieutenant Erik Cole assisted the Lynnfield Fire Department at the scene of a 3-alarm fire at 260 Essex Street during the morning of July 18. Firefighters from Ladder 1 led by Lieutenant Gary Hill assisted the Reading Fire Department at the scene of a structure fire at 60 Willow Street during the afternoon of July 18. A crew from Engine under Lieutenant Steve Bivens covered a vacant Lynnfield Fire station while that department was tied up at an emergency during the evening of July 23. A crew from Engine 1 covered Reading Fire headquarters during the early morning of July 25 while that department was tied up at an emergency.

Five new recruit firefighters, Samuel Carr, Richard Bruno, Charles Curran, John Panzini and Jarrod Fitzpatrick, continued to conduct in-house training exercises during the month of July. The five new recruits started their training with Class # 295 of the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy Recruit Training Program on July 26. The recruit program is a ten-week training regimen with an anticipated graduation date of October 8, 2021.

All groups continued their annual in-service business inspections during July. All department members participated in Emergency Medical Technician training classes during July provided free to the department by Cataldo Ambulance. All groups continued to train on various firefighting operations with the new recruits during July including practicing pumping evolutions with the department’s new Seagrave pumper.

Incident Response Report

Fire Prevention Report