Wakefield's massive 7th alarm Church fire.

Woo, this one is a hard one to title or even Blog about. Seen above are the ghostly images of a burnt out shell of the First Baptist Church in Wakefield.

Around dinner time all across Massachusetts the skies darkened and you could hear the booming sounds of what was come echoing through the air. Then with a flash here and a flash there it looked like a fire works display of lightning. Everyone quietly prayed that the storm would just pass by; but; that would not be the case. With a flash and a boom the begin to the end of a 150 year old Church began.

Slowly a flicker of fire could be seen high up in the steeple, even through the rains the smoke began to fill the air.

The dispatch console began to flash and beep, receiving the box from the building.

On with the gear and out the doors and as soon as the trucks turned down Crescent Street they new this was not gone to be a good night. Those couple little flickers of flames quickly grew and grew becoming a massive ball of flames which traveled the length of the main chapel becoming this inferno within minutes.

Photo By: Zack Sartori

The senior officer calling across the radio for more and more companies, "Fire Alarm give me a 2nd!", "3rd Alarm Fire Alarm!" to parphrase some of the communication which could be heard on their radios.

Photo By: Zack Sartori

The sounds of thunder where replaced by the sounds of sirens racing their way towards the Church. And the flashes of lightning; which is what is believed to have started the fire; where replaced by strobe lights.

With the severity of this fire command was taken over by Wakefield's Fire Chief Michael Sullivan. And as quickly as he could he began requesting more units, 3rd alarm, 4th, 5th, make it a 6th. The fire would eventually make it to seven alarms. Bring in companies from Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Lynnfield, Woburn, Saugus, Middleton, Malden, Peabody, Burlington, Arlington, Everett, Lynn, Danvers, Revere, Salem, Wilmington, along with special assets like Rehab5, DFS Rehab, DFS Fleet maintenance and numerous ALS and BLS medical units. And that was just the list of companies on scene. While crews battled back the flames companies from Massport and Medford (Ladder and engine) covered the town.

Sadly the entire building was a total loss. But fortunately not one was seriously injured.