Fire Incidents, Aug. 17 - Aug. 22

Fire incidents by the numbers:

EMS calls, excluding car accidents: 14

Public service assistance calls: 7

EMS calls, no transport/treatment refusal: 4

EMS calls, car accidents: 4

Unintentional alarms: 3

Smoke detector malfunctions: 3

Police assists: 2

Smoke scares: 2

Car fires: 1

Fire incidents:

Waltham firefighters on Sunday, Aug. 22 reported that a car went into the woods on Rte. 2 near the Waltham line around 5:55 p.m. Waltham fire responded and treated a person with compound fractures, in need of advanced life support. A second person needed basic life support. Both were taken by ambulance to Lahey Clinic.

Firefighters responded to a car fire on Spring Street on Saturday, Aug. 21 at 10:52 p.m. The car was parked in a resident's driveway, and the owner said the car had not been running well earlier in the day and had been looked at by a mechanic. After driving home from the Cape, the owner pulled into the driveway and could smell gas. He opened the hood and flames shot out. After calling 911, he used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire before firefighters arrived. There was a heavy odor of gas, and firefighters removed the car's battery cables and had the car towed.

On Thursday, Aug. 19, there was a fatal four-car accident on Rte. 2. A car crossed from the eastbound lane to the westbound lane, striking other cars. The driver, a 33-year-old Gardner woman, was trapped in the car and pronounced dead at the scene by a medical examiner before being freed from the car by the Jaws of Life. Three people in one car and one person from another car were taken to Lahey Clinic by ambulance. See related story on the accident. A second story tells the Gardner woman's identity as released by state police.