WAKEFIELD — A Greenwood family was very fortunate that a basement fire in their Oak Street home yesterday morning resulted only in relatively minor damage and no injuries.
The Fire Department received a call at about 9 a.m. from a resident reporting an upholstered chair on fire in the basement of her home at 185 Oak St. According to the Fire Department, the woman told firefighters that she had been smoking in the basement earlier and had dropped some ashes between the seat cushions. She said that she threw some water on the chair and, believing the ashes were extinguished, went out to run some errands. When she returned she found the chair on fire.
Responding firefighters were able to extinguish the fire and remove the chair from the basement. There was no further extension of the fire beyond the chair, but there was moderate smoke damage throughout the home, Fire Chief Michael Sullivan said. Firefighters vented smoke from the house and the family was able to remain in the home.
Chief Sullivan said that it was fortunate that the resident returned home when she did and discovered the fire or the outcome might have been much worse. The cause of the fire was listed as careless disposal of smoking materials.
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Starting around 4:45 p.m. yesterday, police and the Fire Department received multiple calls reporting a fire behind the Enterprise Rent A Car building on Main Street in the Junction. It turned out to be a crew working on a spur of railroad tracks that runs between MG Fitness and the businesses on the west side of Main Street. According to the Fire Department, the repair crew was using a propane torch on the tracks. When they finished their work, the crew needed to do a controlled burn in order to empty the remaining propane from the tank.
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Police responded to a two-car accident on North Avenue at the Lakeside Office Park just before 9 a.m. yesterday. According to police, a 2004 Jeep Cherokee driven by a Wakefield man was traveling north on North Avenue when a 2005 Ford Escape driven by a Swampscott woman heading in the opposite direction attempted to turn left into a parking lot and vehicles collided.
There were no injuries, but the Swampscott woman was cited for failure to yield to oncoming traffic.
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At about 1 p.m., Wakefield Police, State Police, Wakefield Fire and Cataldo Ambulance responded to a minor two-vehicle crash in the Route 129 Rotary. No injuries were reported.
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Police are investigating after a nurse at the Genesis Center nursing home on Bathol Street called just before 4 p.m. to report that a resident’s wallet was missing. The wallet had reportedly been in the patient’s nightstand and contained cash, IDs and credit cards.
