The Wakefield Fire Department responded to 258 emergency incidents during the month of September including 33 box alarms and 225 still alarms.
The Department responded to 2 mutual aid requests during September, once to Saugus and once to Melrose. The department received mutual aid three times, twice from Stoneham and once from Reading,
All department duty shifts conducted training at Howe’s tow yard on North Avenue on vehicle extrication techniques utilizing the “Jaws of Life” rescue tool, hydraulic cutting tools and rams, and the department’s air bags. All department vehicles successfully passed their annual state safety inspection during the month of September.
The Wakefield fire department increased its staffing level by four firefighters during the month of September, hiring four firefighters from the list of laid-off firefighters provided by Civil Service. Fall River firefighters Jonathan McElroy and Jean Pierre Lefleur and New Bedford firefighters Joseph Allen and Nathan Venancio were hired by the department and one firefighter was assigned to each group, bring the shift level on each group up to 12 firefighters. This staffing increase was made possible by a federal staffing grant obtained by the department earlier in the year. Wakefield has not seen a staffing level of 12 per shift for many years. The department was also able to benefit from the fact that all four firefighters had at least four years of experience and came to the department already academy trained.
The department responded to a potentially serious fire at the senior housing located in the former Lincoln School located at 26 Crescent Street during the early evening hours of September 10th. An accidental fire started in one of the lower level housing units operated by the Wakefield Housing Authority. Firefighters under the command of Captain Joseph Riley worked hard to contain the fire to the room of origin. Quick work by firefighters on scene prevented the fire, which started in a non-sprinklered portion of the building, from extending inside the concealed wall space and attic areas of this building. The room of origin was seriously damaged by fire and heat with considerable smoke damage sustained throughout the other four units of that section of the building. Four residents were displaced for several days during the clean up and the resident occupying the room of origin will be displaced until permanent repairs can be made to that room.
