BURRILLVILLE – The Pascoag Fire Department answered 630 more calls for service in the past year than the year prior according to a year end report released this month.
The district, which calculates its annual fire year beginning each November 1, answered 2,076 calls during the past 12 months, marking a large jump from the 2019/2020 year.
A year end report submitted by Deputy Fire Chief Richard Peck notes that fire calls increased by eight and EMS by 602. The fire marshal responded to 20 more service calls and fire loss for the year was $410,200, up from $297,069 in the year prior.
The district received mutual aid 198 times, an increase of 67, and gave it 127 times, an increase of 22 over the year that ended in October of 2020. Man hours for the 2020/2021 were at 11,688.
The report also listed highlights and achievements from the past year, noting that Capt. Thomas Smith and Lt. Lori Poirier received awards from the Burrillville Police Department for, “their relentless work over the last 18 months to keep the town’s first responders safe from COVID.”
Poirier and Smith were both promoted during the year, along with Mackenzie Beausoleil and Andrew Peck.
Beausoleil completed her EMT Cardiac and Firefighter Hayley Morin obtained her RI EMT-B.
Lt. Thomas Walker, Morin and Peck complete and received Pro Board certification for National Fire Protection Association Safety Officer. Walker and Morin also completed and received Pro Board Certification for NFPA 1002 pump operator.
Peck and Firefighter Randy Crowe completed and received Pro Board Certification for NFPA Ropes 1&2.
During the past year, the district also received grants to upgrade extrication equipment, forestry equipment, thermal imaging, training equipment and apparatus, for a total of $675,600 in grant money.
“Several members contracted COVID 19 over this past year while serving the people of Pascoag and Burrillville as a whole,” Peck noted.
Chief Mark St. Pierre thanked every member of the Pascoag Fire Department for “their determination, professional and compassion the rank and file has shown during this last year.”
