June 2014

The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 307 emergency incidents during the month of June including 21 box alarms and 286 still alarms.

The department responded to six requests for mutual aid during June, twice to Stoneham, twice to Melrose, once to Saugus and once to Gloucester. It received mutual aid one time during the month of June from Reading. A crew from Engine 2 led from by Lieutenant Brian Purcell responded to a second alarm fire in Stoneham on Hersam Street during the morning of June 11. Captain Paul Pronco was activated to a location in Gloucester as part of an activation for the Essex County Technical Rescue Team however the team was cancelled prior to their arrival on scene.

Crews under the command of Captain Richard Smith responded to a potentially serious pedestrian accident at the intersection of North Avenue and Prospect Street when a woman and two young children were struck but a falling traffic signal that had been hit by a truck.

Wakefield Firefighter recruits Nathan Bleu and Darren Stead started their recruit training class with the Massachusetts firefighting Academy on June 16. The nine week program will train them to the level of Firefighter I/II when they finally graduate at the end of August.

Wakefield firefighters David Shinney, John Mercurio, Clifford Silva and John Walsh were promoted to the rank of Fire Lieutenant on June 30. These promotions were made without adding any new positions to the department as part of the second phase of the department’s reorganization of its command structure. As a result of these promotions all fire companies will now have a designated company officer in charge of them with the Shift Commander, a Captain, in overall charge of the on duty group.

Ladder 1 visited the Tall Spire Nursery School on June 2. Kindergarten children from the Dolbeare and Woodville schools washed the new ladder truck with firefighters on June 12 and 20. A group of Woodville preschoolers got their chance to wash the ladder truck on June 23. The department finished conducting fire drills in all public and private schools during the beginning of June.

The department’s new Seagrave aerial ladder truck was placed into service on June 6 with no problems noted. All groups received training in the new “bail out” rope rescue kits issued to them as part of an Assistance to Firefighters Grant awarded by the Department of Homeland Security.

June was an exceptionally busy month for the Fire Prevention Bureau as the construction season reaches its peak period during the warm weather. The department conducted a record 62 smoke detector inspections for the sales of homes. Construction is progressing steadily at the Galvin Middle School as well as an apartment complex at 14 Audubon Road. The former Exxon station at the head of the Lake has been razed in preparation for the construction of a new service station with a convenient store on that site.

Incident Response Report

Fire Prevention Report