Ladder 1 and Engine 2 (quint) on scene Mullins Center last night
The Amherst Fire Department closed out a far from monotonous Monday searching for the cause of a fire alarm at the Mullins Center practice rink. The call came in just before midnight and the combination of audible fire alarms sounding and eyewitness reports of "smoke in the building" caused it to be dispatched as a "box alarm", bringing a swift all-hands-on deck response.
Engine 4 at Mullins Center
Turns out the alarm was triggered by a burned out fan motor in the ventilation system.
The chimney fire on Strong Street, called in around 8:30 p.m., was the real thing but firefighters managed to contain the blaze before it could do serious structural damage.
An hour earlier our versatile first responders assisted residents on Triangle Street with a flooded basement.
Engine 2 aerial ladder came in handy
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Glad they did not ignore any of the alarms.
ReplyDeleteFans and small electrical devices fail all the time and do occasionally catch fire.
We can expect more of this as more and more alarms are mandated and connected to the FD.
I was considering buying a building locally and moving my business from rented space. Once I met with the town and they let me know the costs of the Handicap elevator and the interconnected fire alarms, I decided not to invest. The costs are high for both the person that has to put the alarm in and the community that must now support it forever.
Yokal -- I trust you missed the part about "multiple callers report smoke" -- you get a bunch of people calling 911 and reporting smoke in a public building, AFD's going to roll and roll heavy on that ALONE.
ReplyDeleteThrow in the likely fact that UM's EH&S likely was one of those callers -- most of those guys are trained firefighters and you got a firefighter calling for equipment, well....
And talk to your insurance agent sometime -- the better a fire alarm system you have, the lower your fire AND liability insurance is (or get a new agent!).
One other thing: Cost are high relative to WHAT? Boston FD had to bury a couple of guys last week.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that's a damn high cost -- and an alarm that tripped half an hour earlier -- well.....