The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 263 emergency incidents during the month of March including 39 box alarms and 224 still alarms.
The Department responded to three mutual aid requests during March, once each to Lynn, Melrose and Stoneham. It received mutual aid once during March from Lynnfield. Wakefield Engine 2, along with a crew under acting Lieutenant Ken Lyons, covered a Lynn fire station during a 3-alarm fire in that city during the afternoon of March 16. Another crew from Engine 2 under Lt. Kevin Carney assisted the Stoneham Fire Department during a serious accident during the early morning of March 24.
The month of March had three potentially serious fire incidents that were quickly controlled by on-duty firefighters. Firefighters under the command of Acting Captain Brian Purcell responded to a fire at 217 Albion Street during the afternoon of March 8. The fire was caused when a candle overturned and ignited nearby combustibles in a bedroom. Fortunately fire damage was confined to the area immediately around the candle. There were no injuries and no one was displaced as a result of the fire. Firefighters under the command of Captain Joseph Riley responded to a kitchen fire at 9 Heather Lane during the afternoon of March 10. No one was hurt and damage was confined to the immediate area of the stove. A fire during the very windy evening of March 20 fanned some hot ashes next to a rear deck into a fast moving fire at 140 Harrison Avenue. Quick work by firefighters under Captain Paul Pronco and Lieutenant Thomas Purcell contained the fire to a small area of the deck.
The unseasonably warm weather in March allowed all four groups to conduct drills with the fire boats on Lake Quannapowitt. A Girl Scout Daisy troop visited fire department headquarters on March 15. The department applied for a $4,500 grant under emergency management for the installation of two new radio consoles in the fire department dispatch and emergency operations center, both located in the Public Safety Building.
