Fight Fire With Fire

More than a few tailgaters did not make it to the game

 Weather was a plus

Since yesterday's tailgate for the 1st UMass football home game went so well. maybe the powers that be should consider replicating the party this coming March to mitigate the Blarney Blowout.

Which of course they pretty much do anyway with an expensive concert at the Mullins Center.  So maybe allow tailgating there, or hold the concert at the McGuirk Stadium.

 Future scene from the Walking Dead

Seems the camaraderie of cars, youthful exuberance, the outdoors, and of course alcohol can be mixed in such a way so as not to lead to a wildfire of mayhem.

Party Potential Part 2

Crowd of 1,000 behind 17 Hobart Lane Sunday 3:30 PM like leaves on a tree

Townhouse Apartments Sunday 3:15 PM

The party scene on Sunday shifted from the west quad at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst to Hobart Lane somewhat around the corner off North Pleasant Street.

As they did the previous day Amherst police made individual arrests for "liquor law violations" (open container and underage drinking) but pretty much let the crowd, who were gathered on private property, have their day in the sun.

 Mill River Recreation area Sunday afternoon

Police also responded a number of times to the Mill River Recreation area for noise and parking complaints from a large student related gathering that had a permit to use the town property.

The Spring Concert at the Mullins Center Sunday night was designed to keep students on campus so they would not be a burden on town first responders.

But the two extra outside detail ambulances that Chief Nelson requires of them were not enough to handle the slew of substance abuse cases, five of which happened within an hour.

All told Mullins Center Command had 30 patient contacts, with 8 transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital (three by AFD and five by special detail ambulances) and another patron taken into Protective Custody by UMPD.

Although, sadly, these numbers were pretty much in the predicted range.

Monday Morning aftermath:

17 Hobart Lane

North Pleasant Street across from Hobart Lane

Mill River Recreation Area parking lot

 Townhouse Apartments (from Saturday)

There's a reason they call it @ZOOMASS 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6EGarnPt5l

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 18, 2016

Townhouse Apartments late Saturday afternoon

Party Potential

Townehouse Apartments 2:30 PM

Townehouse Apartments 5:30 PM

In the span of just a few hours the crowd of college aged youth at the westernmost green space at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst grew from a couple dozen to a couple thousand.  Fair enough, considering the beautiful spring weather and this being a l-o-n-g holiday weekend.

But when you mix that large a crowd in an enclosed area with copious amounts of alcohol, there's bound to be trouble.

Townehouse Apartments 6:30 PM: plenty of debris available

Around 6:30 PM a 911 call came in reporting a debris fire in the middle of the large crowd.  AFD responded and staged until APD, who had already put a mutual aid call to Hadley and Northampton, could secure the area.

 Townehouse Apartments 7:00 PM: clean up in aisle 5

And secure it they did, even though outnumbered hundreds to one.

 Sunday afternoon, the following day

At the 2013 Blarney Blowout, the year before the one that made national news but still compelling enough to be my "Story of the Year",  AFD had to respond to the middle of the crowd for an ETOH (alcohol poisoning) college aged female.

They were greeted with a hail of ice, cans and bottles (some of them full), thus APD was forced to wade in to break things up, resulting in six arrests.

The following year was even worse with 58 arrests resulting in enough national publicity to give the town and UMass a black eye and a renewed sense of purpose about killing the Blarney Blowout.

And in 2015 and 2016 with the assistance of 225 police officers, stern messaging from the University combined with a parking and overnight guest crackdown and a Mullins Center concert, the Blarney Blowout is no more.

But anytime there's nice weather late in the spring semester the potential for an (unnamed) blowout is pretty high.

Blarney Blowout 2016

Morning briefing 7:15 AM  100+ police vehicles and AFD on scene

 #####

Parking ban prevented extra thousands from attending

8:25 AM:

Townhouse quads in North Amherst are quiet as police are blockading both entrances 

Police blocking entrance to Townhouse Apartments

Parking lots near Southwest still have plenty of room

 Ch 22 with their hard to miss camera

High Noon:

UMPD at Mullins Center concert:  "Still under 1,000 patrons and we have more leaving than coming." #blarneyblowout

— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) March 5, 2016

2:30 PM:

Townhouse quads quiet like a church mouse, although party activity in the front yards along Meadow Street

PD blockade was extremely effective 

PD blockade at Puffton Village, another usual flashpoint

 State Police Helicopter Air 1 flew lazy loops all morning into early afternoon 

 AFD responding for the 2nd time to 11 Phillips Street for a false fire alarm

APD K9 "Dash" assisted with party control on Shumway Street and College Street

Police broke up noisy gathering on Amity Street near town ctr

 
8:00 PM:  Good night Blarney:

6:30 AM The Morning After:

 Meadow Street

Phillips Street

 Fearing Street

Blarney Blowout Warm Up?

Townhouse Apartments, North Amherst 3:45 PM Saturday

Yes of course everyone both young and old should be able to enjoy a warm Saturday afternoon especially considering the Arctic like conditions we endured the previous weekend.  And nothing goes better with a warm day than a cold beer, or two.

But the problem lies in moderation, both in crowd size and number of beers.

The quad at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst can  hold 1,0000 revelers.  On Saturday it never approached half that and Amherst police never received a complaint about the noise or activities of the crowd, so all ended well.

But all it takes is for one participant to throw a snowball which is answered by an empty beer can and some idiot throws a full can or bottle of beer.  Then it starts rained dangerous projectiles. Or someone in the middle of the crowd passes out from too much alcohol and AFD needs to get to them fast.

In 2013 AFD  needed to get to an overly intoxicated young woman in the center of the quad. The surly crowd responded by lobbing bottles, cans and chunks of ice.  APD made six arrests.  Of course the following year the weather was also nice and all Hell broke lose.  Police made 58 arrests.

Last year thanks to stern messaging from UMass, an expensive concert at the Mullins Center, and the presence of 225 police officers townwide, the Blarney Blowout was a non event.

So I expect this coming March 5th weekend to be the same.

But on any given weekend between now and graduation, when the weather is right, things can go south with the speed of a flying beer can.

Better This Time

 Agawam FD on scene Mullins Center last night enroute to CDH

Thanks to a requirement from Amherst Fire Chief Tim Nelson that the Mullins Center hire outside contractors to be on site (well, close by at North Station anyway) there were no serious problems last night with ambulance supply-and-demand at the Mullins Center.

Agawam and Easthampton FD ambulances were able to handle the medical transports to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, all of them alcohol related.   "About what we expected" according to Chief Nelson.

AFD responding to the Mullins Center for vomiting drunk college aged female urinating herself.

— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) October 8, 2015

A good thing of course since we are talking about potentially life and death scenarios for the rest of us living in town, where a quick arriving ambulance can make all the difference in the world.

Although you would be amazed at some of the ambulance calls Dispatch deals with.

Mullins Center Command, staffed by AFD personnel, saw a total of 15 concert goers last night with four of them requiring transport. Nothing compared to last month's concert.

The next test of our Emergency Medical System will come on Halloween: Another Mullins Center show and with the holiday falling on a weekend the college aged zombie hoards will be out in full strength looking to party.

Don't Do Drugs!

Amherst police made two drug arrests over the weekend, both 20-year-old females who were running a drug store out of their vehicle while UMass police made three drug arrests, all of them male.  

The UMPD arrests were associated with the Mullins Center EDM concert late Friday night that swamped our medical system and these two APD arrests at a North Amherst apartment complex only a couple hours after the music event ended, was probably also connected.

Click to enlarge/read one stop shopping list

Amber Lynn Noyes stands before Judge Payne

Tresa Leinhart arraigned before Judge Payne

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday both young ladies were assigned a public defender and had their cases continued until October 14.

A Drunk Run Weekend

AFD with assist of Agawam and Easthampton FD did 28 drunk runs over the weekend

A full 75% of the "emergency" ambulance runs generated by our institutes of higher education were alcohol induced, something that is easily preventable.

 Yes the town will be reimbursed by private insurance or the parents pocketbooks to the tune of around $1,000 per trip, so the college aged youth ETOH runs are probably downright lucrative.

Mullins Center Friday night

But the real problem with having so freakin' many drunk runs over the past weekend is they tie up our emergency personnel, who are all pretty darn good at what they do but not capable of being in two places at once.

 AFD on scene Mullins Center late Friday night

Thus an ambulance carting a drunk student to Cooley Dickinson Hospital is not availble to us when we call 911 for a friend or loved one who is suddenly having urgent need for medical attention.

The ambulance from another town that responds via "Mutual Aid" takes a lot longer than our own  coming from Central or North Station.

And when you can't breathe, every second counts.

   AFD drunk runs 9/11 weekend

Mullins Center Command

AFD ambulance backing into south entrance Mullins Center late last night

Friday night into early Saturday morning, although certainly stressed, our emergency medical system worked.  Most times, the center holds. 

At the first major Electronic Dance Music concert of the semester-- 'Life In Color" paint party -- a dozen patrons required ambulance transport from the Mullins Center to either Cooley Dickinson Hospital in nearby Northampton, Holyoke Medical Center and/or Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield.

Additional hospitals were used in order to keep Cooley Dickinson emergency ward from being overwhelmed, as this weekend is a busy time throughout the Valley.

The first call for an ETOH patron occurred at 8:00 PM, and Mullins Center Command terminated just after midnight.

In addition to the dozen transports -- 11 of which were alcohol related (ETOH) -- AFD's on site command center overseen by Chief Tim Nelson treated and released an additional 14 patrons for self induced illness brought on by substance abuse.

 Agawam and Easthampton FD were contracted to assist AFD

AFD brought in two outside ambulances, one from Easthampton and the other from Agawam, to deal directly with Mullins Center patients so as to keep the five AFD ambulances available for the rest of the town.

The concert attracted 3,000 patrons and from around 10 PM into the early morning hours a stream of scantily clad college aged youth could be seen traversing Commonwealth Avenue from the Mullins Center back to Southwest Residential area, many of them stained with pink paint.

Chief Nelson was quite satisfied with overall response of his department, quoting baseball great Ernie Banks "We're all here, we might as well play."

"People are going to imbibe too much, that's just a reality," said the Chief, who summed it up succinctly:

"We planned for this and we trained for it ... The system worked."

The next major Mullins Center challenge will occur over for Halloween weekend.  Let's hope it does not sell out with 9,000 vs the 3,000 youth who attended last night's event ...

 Umass after dark last night (Mullins Center top left)