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Fire Log
2005
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“Every Morning I Get Up
And Go To Work”
by Jay Pozark
It’s 1966. All over the city people get up to go to work. Sun won’t be up for awhile. Aroma of coffee from the percolator, eggs frying, toast burning in the toaster, Mom’s making breakfast. Kid’s are getting ready for school. Captain Kangaroo on TV, in black and white, pushing cornflakes. If you have a TV. Dads go off to work. Same thing, all over the city.
March 14th, a light wind is blowing, the temperature is 30 degrees. It’s 0418 hours. The phone rings in the fire alarm office on Baker Street. It’s the police, fire on Baldwin Street, number 7. The operator sets up City Box 461, Union Street corner of Silsbee Street. As the bells ring in firehouses citywide the radio operator at the watch desk at Franklin Street engine house keys the mike. “To all cars from 25, a telephone alarm, for #7 Baldwin Street, City Box 461 going out.” In the background you can hear the doors of the rescue truck slamming, the motor starting and truck roaring off. Then the radio is silent.
Responding to the box are Engines # 4-5-6 Ladders # 3-1 the Rescue Company and Car 28, the East Lynn District Chief, James Scollins.
Arriving on Baldwin Street Ladder # 3 commanded by Capt. Fitzgerald has his 3 man crew don All-Service masks and begin a search. The building is a 3-story wood frame tenement with a fire in Apartment One on Floor Number One. A heavy smoke condition has spread throughout the building. The building is occupied. Ladder 3 locates the fire and begins to ventilate by opening windows. Engine #4, A/Lt. Burwell and his three person crew stretch 50 feet of 3” feeder, hook 2 gates and the keystone valve to a nearby hydrant and stretch a booster line. Ladder# 3 has found a mattress fire and removes the mattress to the street. The building is filled with smoke and companies must evacuate the building. Ladder #1, Lt Beane and a 3 man crew arrive and wearing All-Service Masks search floors number two and three removing the occupants ventilating as they go. A window in the second floor hallway is broken out to improve conditions. A/Lt. Alcide LeBlanc with Engine #5’s 3 man crew go to work with Ladder #1. Engine #6 commanded by Lt. Kane with a 3 man crew take a hydrant on Baldwin Street and assist Engine #4 with their line. The Rescue Company arrives. Capt Ryan and a 2 man crew begin removing 5 people from the building.
A woman, the occupant of the fire apartment is removed. She has inhaled smoke and is burned. The Rescue men begin first aid. An Ambu resuscitator is applied for about a minute, then the Inhalator is used to administer oxygen. The Police Department Ambulance arrives and Fireman Cippoletti attends the patient for the ride to Lynn Hospital. Fireman R.Comeau needs first aid he has been cut on the arm.
The fire is knocked down now. Overhaul and salvage begin. Ladder #3 sets up their smoke ejector and removes smoke. Companies check for fire extension. The fire has been confined to the bed. The cause appears to be smoking. The Recall is sounded at 0441 hours. Engine #4 stands by until 0455 hours as a fire detail.
Back to the firehouse. Change the hose. Put the coffee pot on. Getting close to shift change.
On Johnson Street people notice a fire in the house at number 63. Someone calls the fire department.
At 0508 hours, just 14 minutes after Engine #4 has returned to quarters, the bells go down once again. “Telephone alarm for 63 Johnson Street, City Box #553” Fireman Milotte, the radio operator broadcasts. Responding on the box Engines #6-1-4 Ladders #2-3 Rescue Company and Car 29 West Lynn District Chief George Domey.
Arriving on Johnson Street companies find a 3-story wood frame tenement with a serious fire in a kitchen on floor number two. All floors are occupied. A serious life hazard exists. On floor one a man, a woman and 2 children. On floor number two live three women. On floor three a man, a woman and 2 children. One child is three years old and the other only 5 months. The first priority, get everyone out.
Engine #6 takes a hydrant in front of 56 Johnson Street running 100’ of 3” hose into the pump. Lt Kane and #6’s crew don their Gas Masks. A 250’ line of 1˝” hose with a ˝” tip is stretched into the building to floor three. Rescue Company arrives and the crew goes to floor three, the floor above the fire, to remove the 4 occupants. Engine #1 parks the pump near a hydrant just in case. Lt Miles then takes the 2 man crew and pulls another 1 ˝” line off Engine #6 and stretches to floor number two. Ladder #2, Lt. Decareau and a 3 man crew arrive. Donning All-Service Gas Masks, the men go to floors number two and three and begin ventilation and evacuation. Engine #4 arrives and dresses the hydrant with keystone valve, two hydrant gates and two 50 foot 3” jumper lines to feed the pump. Two 1 ˝” handlines 200’ long are stretched to the front of the building. Ladder #3 spots the ladder truck on Johnson Street south of the fire building. The crew assists in evacuating the residents and opens windows to ventilate.
In the street, District Chief Domey eyes the operation. Occupants being removed by the interior stairs, lines being run, ventilation being done. It’s not enough. The fire is in the walls and ceilings extending horizontally and vertically. At 0514 hours he orders a working fire.
Responding to the working fire, Engine #7 with Lt. Rheaume and a 2 man crew. Engine #7 takes a hydrant on the corner of Cressy Place and lays 400’ of 2 ˝” hose into Engine #4 as a supplemental feeder. Then #7’s crew take a 1 ˝” handline off Engine #6, up the rear staircase to floor 3. Fire is now throughout the top two floors in the walls and ceilings. Four handlines are operating but the fire must be dug out.
Ladder #2’s crew with hooks and axes open up for the engine companies. Fire is in the cockloft and the roof must be opened. Ladder #2’s crew brings an 18’ ladder to fight the fire in the cockloft. Ladder #3’s crew takes a 45’ ladder off Ladder #2 to the front of the building and throws it. Firemen go to the roof to open up. Other men from Ladder #3 throw three salvage covers on floor number one and assist opening walls. Rescue Company helps with the truck work. Engine #4’s crew brings a 2 ˝” handline to the front of the building. In the street the pump operator of Engine #6 checks his pump panel. Compound gauge shows 60 Lbs, pressure gauge shows 100 Lbs pump pressure, looks okay.
Eat smoke, pull plaster, squirt water, spit snot. Companies are making progress knocking down the fire. But it’s hard work.
At 0543 hours the radio crackles with a message, “Twenty nine to Twenty five send another ladder truck to this fire”. Ladder #1 is Signal 91 (on air, in service) in the vicinity of Lynnfield Street and Millard Avenue. They are dispatched to the fire. Arriving at the fire they assist with opening up.
Time goes by and the fire is knocked down. Now it’s time for overhaul. Shovel out the plaster and lath. Squeegee out the water. Make up lines. Check for cause and origin. Looks like it started in a light fixture in the second floor kitchen. Check for injuries. Robert Flynn has plaster in the eyes, Al Tarr cut his finger. Start making up the companies and get the tallies for the report. Nine hundred feet of 1 ˝”, four hundred fifty feet of 2 ˝” and two hundred feet 3” hose used. Pumped Engine lines 2 ˝ hours. Used three salvage covers and fifteen All-Service Gas Masks. Order All Out on City Box #553 at 0700 hours. Ladder #3 in service at 0709 hours. Engine #4 is fire detail until 0740 hours. Once again change hose, cuppa coffee.
Not a bad morning. Two fires fought, nine people rescued, one life saved.
Every morning people get up and go to work. Some earlier than others.
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