Crime & Safety

Fire Log: The Right Amount of Soap Saves the Day

Incidents and emergencies handled by the Belmont Fire Department.

Don't try this on Thanksgiving without opening the windows first

Nov. 11 – At half past 9 p.m., Engine 1 was sent to a multifamily building on Moraine Street for a carbon monoxide incident inside the building. The crew found a very-low CO reading with their detection devices. The highest readings turned out to be in the kitchen area where the tenant said he had been cooking all day long and using the stove for a majority of the day. Since there were no readings outside of the kitchen or in the hallway, fire personnel ventilated the kitchen and soon thereafter the readings dropped. It was determined the source of the elevated readings was the gas stove. While asked by the crew, the tenants did not wish to be evaluated for CO exposure.

Blind to clutter

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Nov. 12 – A minute past 8 p.m., Engine 2 arrived at a Westlund Road home to investigate a possible gas leak. While they didn't find any, what they did find concerned them: clutter and lots of it especially in and around the utilities in the basement. What concerned firefighters even more was that the owner's wife appeared to be visually impaired and in need of her service dog. The owner was told by the fire department about the conditions in the home and explained it would be filing a report with the department's fire prevention unit.

"Is a Puzzlement!"

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Nov. 14 – Just before 3 p.m., Engine 1 was sent a preschool on Belmont Street for a "person in distress." Firefighters soon found a sad youngster who somehow got a puzzle piece stuck on its right index finger with tearful results. But the Engine 1 crew was not befuddled; they knew just the right amount soap required to remove teensy-weensy fingers from tiny entanglements. 

On the street

Nov. 16 – Just after midnight, Engine 1 and 2, the Ladder truck and Rescue 1 were sent to Choate Road to investigate a home owner's report of a natural gas leak somewhere on the street. The companies were coming back to the site where earlier crews had investigate a similar report. While the fire personnel could not pick up any readings on their detection devices. there was certainly a presence of the tattletale smell of mercaptan, the chemical injected into gas in order to detect it. National Grid was notified to respond.

No one home? No problem

Nov. 17 – As the time approached half past 6 a.m., crews were sent to a Wilson Avenue two-family for a fire alarm going off in a unit that was not occupied at the time. Firefighters discovered the front door left unlocked so decided to enter the unit to figure out what's up. Turns out a possible leak sent water onto the fire detector and setting it off. Personnel removed the detector and its battery and put them it in the kitchen area. "We left it as we found it," said the fire department log. 


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