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July 2005 Incidents
July News Stories
07:26:05
Waltham students who had hoped to be a part of the city's second annual Student Police Academy this year are in luck. They can sign up for the Middlesex Youth Public Safety Academy instead.
The Waltham Police Department program was canceled earlier this month due to lack of interest, about three weeks before it was set to start, police have said.
But the annual free academy taught by the Middlesex Sheriff's Department will be open to Waltham students for the first time this year, according to Middlesex Capt. Bob McCarthy.
He said students from Waltham, Newton and Watertown will be invited to the academy, which is held at an old school in Billerica, the week of Aug. 22.
McCarthy said more than 70 students from Watertown have signed up so far, which is why the city is included in the academy every year.
Newton students have attended for the past two years, he said.
McCarthy said the academy includes mock crime scenes, first aid, a scent-tracking dog demonstration, ambulance demonstrations and talks on such topics as strangers, peer pressure and bullies.
"This team effort by local police, fire, emergency medical services and the Middlesex Sheriff's Office teaches our children about the importance of public safety," Sheriff James DiPaola said. "Our cities and towns, especially your family, will benefit from the education and training provided to these children."
A graduation ceremony, which one parent is required to attend, is held at the end of the week.
"It's pretty interesting," he said. "It's a free, weeklong summer camp and lunch is provided."
McCarthy said the camp's idea is to teach public safety and teamwork. "We try to give them a little taste of what each department does," he said. "We try to make it as fun as possible."
McCarthy said this is the first year academy students will line up, exercise and march -- just like they were in the military.
"We like to keep it interesting," said McCarth
He said some students have attended the academy for four consecutive years. It has been taught for the last six.
The academy is open to boys and girls ages 9 to 12. McCarthy said 8- and 13-year-old siblings are also welcome.
"We try to accept as many cadets as we can. We try to get at least 65 from one community," he said. "It's a great program once a city gets involved. It's great for the kids."
If too many students sign up, a lottery is held, he said.
Students from Framingham, Natick and Ashland are attending the camp this week and cadets from Marlborough, Hudson and Maynard will go to camp the week of Aug. 15.
For more information, call McCarthy at 978-663-6092.
Story from the Daily News Tribune on Tuesday, July 26, 2005 By Jennifer Roy / Daily News Staff
07:14:05
WALTHAM -- A car fire of undetermined origin totaled a resident's Ford Explorer as it sat in his driveway yesterday and partially melted the vinyl siding of the house next door.
The owner of the SUV, Efrain Santiago, said it was not running at the time of the fire but had been a half-hour earlier.
Santiago said he moved the Explorer to the center of the driveway, off of Williams Street, because he planned to wash it later. He then walked to his mother's ho Fisk Street.
"I just left here at 10:30, quarter to 11," he said. "We got a phone call there, they said it was on fire."
Capt. Tom MacInnis said the Fire Department received the alert at 11:17 a.m. Firefighters arrived on the scene moments later to find most of the SUV engulfed in flames, with windows shattering from the heat.
At the time of the fire, several city officials were a block away at the dedication of the newly renovated Thompson Playground on Charles Street.
"I guess I was the first one to smell it," said City Councilor Sally Collura. "I thought it was a car that had no exhaust pipe on it. But there was no car that came by like that, because you would have heard it. I looked over, and the street looked kind of hazy toward the 200 block of Charles Street. Then I started to see the smoke coming up out of the back of the building. I said, 'Something's on fire!' and the mayor said, 'Call 911!'"
While Councilor Ken Doucette called 911 on his cell phone, Collura and Mayor Jeannette McCarthy knocked on the front windows of the house at the corner of Charles and Williams streets to alert anyone who might be inside.
Councilor Gary Marchese notified the residents of 6 Williams St., the house next door whose vinyl siding was partially melted. Soon after, one side of the house -- including two closed windows -- was bathed in thick black smoke from the burning SUV that sat 15 feet away.
Once firefighters arrived, McCarthy stood a block away on Charles Street to direct traffic away from the scene.
For several minutes after the fire was discovered, firefighters did not know the whereabouts of Santiago or if anyone was inside the house. One witness, Jesus Alvarado, said he had just spoken to Santiago in the driveway minutes before the fire but did not know if he was still at home.
After receiving the call at his mother's house, Santiago returned around 11:30 to let firefighters into the house. No one was inside at the time of the fire.
MacInnis said there was very little damage to the house the SUV was parked at, which has aluminum siding. Though the SUV was parked five feet from a wooden staircase that led up to a second-story wooden deck, there was only minor melting on a five-foot portion of the gutter above the blaze.
Though the cause of the fire is undetermined, MacInnis said it was not suspicious and not unusual.
"We get car fires," he said.
On June 16, CNN reported that Ford has recalled more than 1 million vehicles to replace a faulty cruise control switch that some investigators say can cause fires. According to the report, the switch is designed to be powered at all times, even when the vehicle is off and the key is removed from the ignition.
Story from the Daily News Tribune on Friday, July 15, 2005 By Christopher Moore / Daily News Staff
07:07:05
It's a problem that would make any homeowner's palms sweat. A beautiful old home's floor is too weak to support the furniture. But, in this case, the home is a 115-year-old fire station and the ''furniture" is a 42,000-pound ladder truck.
The Moody Street Fire Station in Waltham hasn't been able to house its firetrucks and heavy equipment since March, after engineers reported that the floor could no longer reliably support the weight. Fire Engine No. 1 has been forced onto the concrete parking apron outside. The station's ladder truck is now at the nearby Prospect Street station. And the city was forced to discard a temporary remedy when the cost turned out to be twice what had been expected.
Now, as city officials are pursuing another short-term solution, they are digesting a consultant's report on whether the station is worth saving in the long run.
In a report issued last month, the Maguire Group, an architectural and engineering firm, offered this assessment of the station: ''The wood joists and concrete floor are in advanced state of deterioration. Large shear cracks were observed at the joist ends in several locations. Exposed and rusted reinforcing bars were also observed in a few locations."
The Moody Street station is responsible for protecting thousands of homes on the city's south side from fire, covering an area that stretches to the Waterton, Newton, and Weston lines.
Waltham Fire Chief Thomas Keough said that relocation of the ladder truck has reduced response time by an average of a minute, depending on traffic and weather conditions.
When asked whether all the stress of the memos shuttled back and forth between city officials, the parade of engineers and consultants walking through the station's most intimate spaces, and the sudden starts and stops of the repair plans have ever given him a headache, the chief chose his words carefully.
''No comment," Keough said, after a slight twitch of his white handlebar mustache.
But he does acknowledge that the uncertainty can be frustrating.
''We were basically evicted, other than our personnel. When you have an engineer say, 'You can't use the equipment,' you have to move," Keough said.
Last July, an engineering firm, Flood Consulting, gave the city the option of either replacing the wood beams with concrete footings and steel frames, or filling in part of the basement with concrete and replacing the wood with steel. It recommended the first option.
But, when they were called before City Council in April, Flood Consulting and Building Commissioner Ralph Gaudet reversed that decision and recommended the second option. A second engineering firm, called in at the mayor's request, agreed.
Bids for that project went out in May, and work was supposed to begin as soon as possible after the bid due date of June 1. But instead of the $257,000 originally estimated, the bids ranged from $488,000 and $552,000.
At the city's request, Maguire offered its own temporary solution -- a combination of steel beams and wood columns to shore up the floor in the area where the ladder truck usually parks, with extra support underneath the tires. Maguire, however, couldn't say what that would cost.
From the outside, the station is a neat brick building with a tower at the back, so quaint that it was once featured on the front of an International Association of Firefighters Christmas card. But inside are signs that it may have outlived its usefulness.
Cracks line the bays where trucks are normally parked. Bumpers have been installed on the sides of the doorways to reduce the risk of damage when a truck squeezes through a space built for water tanks pulled by horse and buggy. The basement is damp and, despite fans running in the exercise room, a little stuffy. Its ceiling is marred by peeling tar paper and, in a few spots, crumbling concrete.
The firefighters, though, have tried to make do. In one section of the basement is a cozy, overstuffed leather club chair next to a bucket of sand, an impromptu smoking lounge.
''This is their second home," Keough said of the firefighters. But, while firefighters over generations have formed a sentimental attachment to the building, they are increasingly aware of its limitation.
For four years, running, the chief has been requesting a new station.
''You have the same concerns for this building as your own home," he said. ''You hate to see damage; you hate to see neglect. You try to keep up with things. But there comes a time when you have to invest in something else."
Story from the Boston Globe on Thursday, July 7, 2005 By Stephanie V. Siek, Globe Staff
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