Beverly Police Officer and Off Duty Firefighter Respond for Trapped Man
At 1358 on Sunday, November 28, 2010, Beverly Firefighters received a report of a fire in an apartment with a man trapped at 137 Bridge St. Off duty Firefighter Jon Palm heard the call and immediately ran to the building which is visible from his back door. When Palm arrived, Beverly Police Officer April Clarizia was pulling up in her cruiser. Clarizia located the apartment and alerted Palm to its location. Inside the apartment, the two found a male in his bed with a fire burning on the night stand right next to him. Within seconds, Firefighter Bill Moran and Lt Eric Fowler from Truck 1 were on scene with a fire extinguisher to put the fire out. The occupant was moved to a wheel chair and removed from the apartment. According to Captain Russell Halloran, the Incident Commander, the fire was caused by burning incense that had overturned igniting combustibles on the night stand and the nightstand itself. Firefighters checked the building for fire extension, but found none. No one was displaced by the fire. Palm, a decorated Iraq War veteran, is the grandson of retired Deputy Chief William Mcpherson Jr. The occupant refused medical treatment.
Image:
At 1244 am, the Beverly Fire Department responded to a report of a car fire on Rantoul St near Myrtle St. Truck 1 was dispatched and arrived to find a 2004 Chevy Trailblazer fully involved in front of 24 Myrtle St.
The crew of T-1 immediately attacked the fire with water and a dry chemical extinguisher but the vehicle was a total loss. Fire Investigator Lt Eric Fowler is tasked with investigating the fire.
Image:
Marine 1 construction photo's as of November 16.
At 1003 on Sunday November 14, 2010, the Beverly Fire Department responded for a fire alarm activation at 150 Sohier Rd. Upon arrival, crews found an indication of a sprinkler activation in a building where there is a chemical process present. The crew of Truck 2 investigated with a facility representative. In the building, they found a chemical tank smoldering with fire extending to an adjacent 55 gallon drum containing hazardous materials. Crews quickly extinguished the fire and retreated from the building to further assess the hazards.
Once the nature of the chemical inside the breached container was identified, a Tier 1 response from the State Hazardous materials Team was requested. Beverly Firefighters isolated the area and shut down the active sprinkler system in order to reduce the spread of any released hazardous materials.
Members of the District 6 Hazmat team arrived and assessed the scene with responders from the facility working to determine the extent of the leak and any contamination. Fortunately several systems in place worked to contain the released hazardous materials and facility response personnel were allowed to make entry into the building with proper personal protective equipment to clean the substance.
Once the substance was cleaned, firefighters and fire investigators once again entered the building to assess the fire damage and find a cause. The fire was confined mostly to a single chemical container and the chemical storage drum adjacent to it. The fire began when a chemical container was initially ignited by a malfunctioning heater. The container burned and spread up into an area protected by an automatic sprinkler system. The sprinkler prevented the spread of fire but was unable to completely extinguish the fire.
At no time was there any significant threat to the public. Facility systems and emergency response plans assisted the Fire Department in the quick mitigation of the incident.
All personnel were clear of the scene at 1354.
10 Goodwin Rd
Firefighters responded to 10 Goodwin Rd Saturday evening for a report of smoke in the house. Upon arrival, Lt. Kevin Smith and his crew found an odor of electrical burning and a light haze in the kitchen. After a search of the home, firefighters located a malfunctioning refrigerator that was causing the condition. The refrigerator was unplugged and the owner was advised to have the refrigerator replaced or repaired.
12 Summit Ave
The Beverly Fire Department responded for a report of a fire alarm activation at 12 Summit Ave in the early morning hours of November 7. While enroute, firefighters were advised of reports of smoke coming from the building and people evacuating the building. Upon arrival, a light odor of smoke was in the air and steam and smoke were seen coming from a fourth floor window.
After a brief investigation, the crew of Truck 1 found an extinguished fire in a bedroom of one of the two story condominiums on the second floor. The fire had been controlled by a single sprinkler head that was inside the bedroom of the occupied condo.
Fire crews shut down the section of the sprinkler system feeding that head and began to assess the damage. Water from the head had flowed for several minutes and leaked down to the first floor through light fixtures, wall outlets and any other means it could find. Building and electrical inspectors were summoned to the scene to assess damage.
Of the 23 condominiums in the building, 9 were deemed unsafe to occupy until electricians could ensure the safety of electrical wiring inside the units. The remainder of the condominium owners were allowed to return to their units. Owners that were displaced were staying with families or making arrangements on their own.
The fire was caused by combustible materials being left too close to baseboard electric heaters. The heaters were on transferring heat directly to the combustibles instead of heating the air in the room. When the combustibles reached their ignition temperature, they began to burn on the wall opposite the sprinkler head. The heat built up and travelled across the room where it activated the sprinkler system.
No one was injured as a result of the fire.
Will your Smoke Alarm work when it's needed?
Smoke Alarms
It is time once again for us to turn back our clocks. The Beverly Fire Department would like to take this opportunity to remind you of an important safety feature in all of our homes, the smoke alarm. Since their inception, smoke alarms have been saving lives by providing people early warning in the event of a fire. Since the 1970’s deaths as a result of fires has been cut in half. Today more than 40 percent of fire deaths occur in the 4 percent of homes that were not protected by smoke alarms.
Smoke alarms require some maintenance and attention. Most importantly, they require some sort of electrical power. Without some power source, they provide no protection at all. More and more, smoke detectors are connected to household power. Most of these detectors have a back up battery that protects the occupants in the event of a power failure. No matter what the primary power supply is for your smoke detector, the 9volt battery needs to be replaced at least once a year. When we change our clocks back this weekend, it is a great opportunity for us to take the time to replace the batteries in the smoke alarms in our homes.
Different types of smoke alarms are designed for different areas of our houses and protection from different types of fires. Making sure that the proper alarm is in the proper location in your house is also very important. The type of detector and recommended usage will be provided with detector that you purchase. Always heed the information provided to you in the manufacturer’s instructions.
Lastly, smoke alarms do have a serviceable life. After ten years, smoke alarms should be replaced. All new smoke alarms have a date printed on their back. If you remove your alarm from the ceiling and find that there is no date, it is likely more than ten years old and should be replaced.
Be sure to keep your family safe this year by taking a few minutes to insure that your smoke alarms are in proper working order.
For more information on smoke detectors, you can check the Department of Fire Services Website under Fire Safety Topics. (link below)
