DURHAM — A recent fire alarm activation that sent Durham firefighters rushing to their own fire station early Tuesday morning, stopped a malfunctioning heating unit from doing any serious damage.
For Durham Fire Chief William St. Michel, though, the incident again highlighted how important it is that property owners be sure the batteries and backup batteries in their own alarms work.
He recommends changing them this weekend to correspond with the switch to Daylight Savings Time. According to St. Michel, the faulty heating unit was hanging in the truck bay.
Androscoggin County dispatch sent a page and tone for fire alarm activation at 615 Hallowell Road — the address of the fire station — at 2:28 a.m. Tuesday.
The first officer on scene saw smoke inside the building and requested an engine through mutual aid from Lisbon.
Durham firefighters responding put on gear and moved apparatus to the roadway and used a thermal imaging camera to locate the source of the smoke.
By 2:36 a.m., firefighters were able to determine the source of smoke was a hanging gas-fired unit heater in the truck bay. The propane was isolated, the electrical breaker shut off and the Lisbon engine was canceled.
The panel was removed from the access panel on the heating unit, an the fire had gone out. Firefighters ventilated the building, checked storage spaces to make sure no fire had spread, contacted the alarm company that monitors and the alarm system, and returned that fire apparatus to the bays.
Personnel cleared the scene at 2:50 a.m. The heating unit is now out of service. Michel said Friday that the fire station, because it is unoccupied at night, is equipped with a fire alarm system that, as is the case in most rural areas, is monitored by a company that receives notification through a telephone line when the alarm is activated.
The company then notifies county dispatch. The damage was trivial, St. Michel said, and the alarm system worked correctly. Had it not, the town could have recouped the cost of a damaged station and equipment through its insurance.
The bottom line, St. Michel said, is that the fire call involved an alarm system that worked, and because of it, a tragedy for the town of Durham was averted. The station’s alarm system to him is comparable to the smoke and fire alarms in residents’ homes, and he urged them Friday to place fresh batteries in their alarms.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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