Fire Log: The Never Ending Alarm

Stuck on the right

July 29 – Engine 2, Engine 3 and a command car were sent to a building on Hill Road at 8:40 p.m. for a person who was stuck in a stalled elevator. This was a repeat of a call earlier in the month when several people got hung up inside one of the building's two elevators. The person was safely taken out of the elevator. The commander on the scene then asked that a representative of the property owner show up after fire companies attempted to gain access to the elevator room on the roof and were unable due to a missing key. The owner's rep arrived and gave firefighters access to the mechanical room where they disconnect power to the right-side elevator and red tagged it.

Oops – cutting a gas line

July 30 – Engines 2 and 3 were sent at around 10:30 a.m. to a construction site in the vicinity of 70 Concord Ave. after a worker operating an excavator inadvertently severed a one-inch high-pressure gas line feeding a building under construction. A temporary clamp was applied by workers prior to the fire department's arrival to slow the leak. After hearing that it was going take some time before the gas company could reach the site, the crew from Engine 3 took out their "jaws of life" and clamped off the line completely to stop the escaping gas. The gas company did arrive later and turned the gasline off at the street.

I promise ...

Aug. 2 – At a quarter to 10 p.m., a command car was sent to a multifamily building on Moraine Street so a firefighting could speak to the owner about why the building's hard-wire alarm – which sends alerts to the town's dispatcher – kept on going off. Tenant's were informed by firefighters to call 911 if there was an emergency. The property owner arrived on the scene ans was informed of the problem as well as the limitation of the system, the red tag process and that he must contact a qualified electrician to service the system. He agreed to contact an electrician and to stay on the scene until the job was done. Good thing he didn't give his word on it: the next day the same alarm went off – twice. This time fire personnel switched off the offending alarm – on the third floor – until the owner could find someone to fix the problem.