Belmont Fire Log: Fire Pile a Springtime No-No

Turned off

March 25 – Five minutes before 11 a.m. Engine 1 found an outdoor water spigot leaking a steady stream of water. A crew member shut off the water: problem solved.

Ongoing gas problem

March 26 – Just after 4 p.m., a fire department commander was investigating a report by the Waltham Fire Department of an outside odor of natural gas in the rear of a Trapelo Road bank branch. When he arrived, the odor of Mercaptan – the chemical added to natural gas so it can be detected –could be detected on the side of the structure nearest to the gas meter. But the department's equipment displayed normal readings near the outside meter as well as inside the bank. The branch manager said the outside odor as been an ongoing for several weeks. The firefighter then noticed that Duct tape was wrapped around the meter piping at the site of the joints. The commander requested the Fire Department contact the gas company and have them respond to the site. The department red tagged the meter and told the bank manager of the problem and the red tag process. 

A flip of the switch

March 28 – At half past 3 a.m., after a Baker Street resident called the fire department for a little help. Here's the story: The tenant was using a wall- mounted oven to heat apartment because the "heat" would not turn on. A firefighter took a look at the thermostat in the living room; it was dialed to 50- degrees and the selector switch was positioned on "cool." Turns out the resident was running the building's air conditioner. The furnace fired up once the temperature selection was increased and the selector switched place on "heat." 

Fire pile a Belmont no-no

March 30 – A few minutes before half past noon, Engine 1 was dispatched to a Brookside Avenue location for a reported outside fire. The Belmont Police were already on scene talking to the owner of a single-family house. He said he was burning an old supply of wood and he was unaware of the town bylaw that says that outside fires are not allowed: it's Belmont, Massachusetts, not Belmont, New Hampshire. And it was a fairly big wood pile in the backyard: the wood was in a five-foot by four-foot arrangement, 30 feet from his home and about a yard from a brook ... and on fire! The Engine 1 crew extinguish the blaze and overhauled the pile to make sure the fire was completely out. The homeowner was told that the Highway Department's trash contractor will take old wood away.

Detector decorated

March 30 – Around 1:30 p.m., Engine 1 was sent to a rooming house on Common Street near Cushing Square. It was a false alarm – a room was being repainted and the sanding process caused the alarm to go off – but what the crew found inside was alarming. While looking around, firefighters noticed that a smoke detector in one of the rooms was partially painted over. The occupant told the crew that the detector was covered for a while. Before leaving, a commander informed the building manager to have the detector and system checked by a qualified technician.