March 2017

The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 299 emergency incidents during the month of March including 32 box alarms and 267 still alarms.

The department responded to three requests for mutual aid during March, twice to Melrose and once to Saugus. It received mutual aid twelve times during the month of March, three times from Stoneham, three times from Lynnfield, twice from Reading, and once each from Massport, Melrose, North Reading and Woburn. A crew from Engine 2 led by Lieutenant Sean Curran assisted the Melrose Fire Department during a 2-alarm fire at 156 Main Street in that community during the evening of March 4.

Wakefield firefighters under the command of Captain Paul Pronco responded to a reported multiple car accident involving a tanker truck on Route 95 Southbound just before the North Avenue Exit 39 shortly after midnight on March 11. Wakefield and Reading firefighters arrived within minutes to find an 11,500-gallon gasoline tanker that had collided with two other vehicles before striking the Jersey barrier. The tanker then partially separated from the tractor before it rolled over the Jersey barrier, landing in the high-speed lane on the northbound side of the highway. Incredibly, there were only minor injuries to all of the vehicle occupants and the tanker did not explode.

Captain Pronco and Reading Fire Captain Mark Dywer quickly set up a unified command post, combining their resources. A water supply line was secured going all the way to a hydrant on Walker’s Brook Drive in Reading, a distance of more than 950 feet. An absorbent material was applied underneath each manhole on the tanker as all five were actively leaking gasoline. Any nearby storm drains were also diked to keep gasoline from entering the drainage system and nearby Lake Quannapowitt.

Additional aid was requested from the Massachusetts District 2 Hazardous Materials Response Team, the Massport Fire Department for additional firefighting foam resources, the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Chief Sullivan responded and assumed overall command for the incident. The Massachusetts State Police, assisted by Wakefield and Reading Police personnel, shut down Route 95 completely in both directions. Northbound traffic was rerouted to Quannapowitt Parkway and the Route 129 rotary and southbound traffic was diverted onto the exit and on ramps for North Avenue. Employees from Coady’s Tow Service secured the wrecked truck and tanker with straps to keep it from moving during the long process to mitigate the incident. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation sent a dump truck full of sand to construct a dike around the tanker to contain the gasoline in case one of the upside down manholes on the tanker failed and leaked several thousand gallons of gasoline onto the highway. The Department of Fire Services sent a large Incident Command Vehicle and Firefighter Rehabilitation Unit to support the operation. These large heated vehicles provided shelter from the 12 degree ambient temperature and the winds that often gusted to more than 40 mph. Firefighters were able to rotate through the rehabilitation vehicle and get hot drinks and snacks for the duration of the incident.

Emergency personnel immediately made a plan to right the overturned tanker. A second empty tanker was brought to the scene by the owner of the trucking company involved in the accident. More than 11,000 gallons of fuel in the tanker was off-loaded to this tanker after vent holes were very carefully drilled into each of the tanker’s five compartments. Once the holes were drilled each compartment was emptied of as much fuel as possible using special suction devices designed for this purpose. Once the vehicle was off-loaded of as much fuel as possible, each compartment had dry ice placed inside it to help inert the flammable atmosphere. The vehicle was then righted by employees from Coady’s Tow Service. The highway was then reopened after the area was cleaned up of sand and debris. All together Route 95 was closed for about 9 hours. Hard work by well-trained firefighters and emergency workers resulted in the loss of less than 50 gallons of gasoline out of a total of 11,500. The successful outcome of the entire operation is a testament to the courage and dedication of all those who responded to this incident.

Wakefield firefighters responded to the first multiple alarm fire of 2017 on March 23 when a kitchen fire started in a two-family residence at 17 Stark Avenue at approximately 9:16 P.M. Firefighters arrived two minutes after being dispatched to find fire venting out of one doorway of the residence and starting to vent out of a second doorway on the opposite side of the building. The Incident Commander, Captain Thomas Purcell, struck a second alarm, bringing firefighters from Melrose, Reading, Stoneham and North Reading to the scene and Woburn and Lynnfield to cover fire headquarters. The fire was quickly knocked down, but caused heavy fire damage to the entire first floor unit and severe smoke damage to the second floor. All four occupants of the residence will be displaced for an extended period until repairs can be made to the home. The cause of the fire was eventually determined to be the accidental ignition of clothes placed on top of a stove after one of the burners was inadvertently turned on.

All department duty shifts reviewed standard operating procedures on incidents involving electrical hazards and natural gas emergencies during the month of March. A Girl Scout Daisy troop visited fire headquarters during the afternoon of March 8. Three Wakefield Memorial High School Juniors spent their school day on March 22 with Chief Sullivan as part of their participation in the school’s annual Career Shadow Day. The three boys toured both stations and the 911 center and gained first-hand experience on the proper use of protective gear as well as some equipment utilized by firefighters.

Incident Response Report

Fire Prevention Report