The Swellesley Report

Since 2005: More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Public safety

Roofer injured after falling 30 feet while working on Wellesley home

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copter sprague
Boston MedFlight helicopter at Sprague Field.(Photo courtesy of EE)

 
Emergency crews responded late Tuesday afternoon to Old Colony Road in Wellesley after a roofer fell 30 feet to the ground and suffered serious injuries. He was transported to Sprague Field, from where a Boston MedFlight helicopter took him to a Boston hospital.

According to Wellesley Police, the man landed on his feet and sustained significant trauma throughout his body.

Wellesley Police, Wellesley Fire Department, and Natick Medics responded to the call.

An investigation into site conditions continues.

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Won’t you adopt an adorable Wellesley fire hydrant?

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Photo credit: Town of Wellesley

Wellesley DPW and Wellesley Fire Department are asking for your help clearing snow from fire hydrants in neighborhoods following the February 23 blizzard. There are over 1,400 hydrants in Wellesley, and each one is potentially vital in the event of an emergency.

The DPW and Fire Department appreciates all of the help they’ve already received from residents.

If you would like to adopt a hydrant and regularly keep it clear, please follow the steps below:

  1. Visit the Wellesley Adopt a Hydrant map application.
  2. Pan and zoom to your neighborhood or search for an address using the search bar. In the search bar, start typing your address and matching results will begin to show. Click on the result that matches the address you’re looking for and the map will zoom to your neighborhood.
  3. If you do not see the sidebar on the right, click on the Adopt a Hydrant tool in the top right corner, then select any RED hydrant to adopt it, the GREEN hydrants have already been adopted.
  4. Enter your information into the form and click SAVE. Changes may take up to 30 seconds to appear.

Please be careful and aware of roadway traffic throughout the rest of this storm and clean up. Thank you for volunteering to keep our neighborhoods safe!

If you have any problems with the map application, please contact gis@wellesleyma.gov.

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Wellesley town departments are welcome to advertise on The Swellesley Report to reach our fantastic audience

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Emergency crews respond to hazmat call at Wellesley daycare

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A slew of Wellesley Police, Fire and other emergency personnel were on the scene at he Bright Horizons early education center at 60 William Street in Wellesley on late Friday morning for a hazmat call involving what turned out to be a soap snafu.

The town received a call from an employee at the daycare center reporting that a student had been inadvertently exposed to a commercial grade dish soap while washing their hands. “Upon arrival the Wellesley Fire Department personnel learned that more than one student had washed their hands from this dispenser and as a precaution requested that multiple ambulances respond to the scene

Fire Chief Steve Mortarelli told local TV news stations, including Boston 25 News, that about 40 kids between the ages of 1 and 5 were at the daycare, and that 11 of them were hospitalized with “minor, superficial rashes,” similar to a bad sunburn. One adult was also taken to a hospital due to skin irritation. No further updates on the patients’ status was available as of late Friday afternoon.

The Wellesley Fire Department requested that the State Hazmat Team respond to investigate the incident.

“After an extensive recon of all rooms, the Haz-Mat team found that three of the soap dispensers contained a commercial dishwashing concentrate that was stored in the general vicinity. The Board of Health will be in contact with the business owner regarding next steps,” according to the town.

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A sporty Wellesley public safety update: World Cup, Boston Marathon, e-bikes, and more

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The Wellesley Police and Fire chiefs shared quarterly updates near the start of the Jan. 13 Select Board meeting, and as usual they are thinking ahead. In this case, to both the Boston Marathon and the men’s soccer World Cup, the latter of which will have matches this summer at the rebranded Boston Stadium in Foxborough, and at least one team plans to train in Wellesley.

In the past, we’ve seen Italy’s AS Roma practice at Wellesley College.

Police Chief Scott Whittemore said Wellesley police will have a significant role either locally or regionally through the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council. “On game day it will be all hands on deck [for METRO-LEC] whenever there’s a match at Gillette,” he said, adding that probably five to eight Wellesley officers will be assigned. “There’s a strong possibility there will be a more local presence,” he said.

Speaking of the local colleges, Whittemore said the police are working closely with all three—Babson, MassBay, and Wellesley College—on security. Wellesley College is working to allow Wellesley Police 24/7 access to its buildings, as the force already has with Babson for years.

The police also conduct security training with the private and public schools in town, and with local houses of worship. The vacated Upham Elementary School has proven invaluable for police training as well, such as for active shooter exercises.

Back to sports, a few marathon planning meetings are already taking place each week, Whittemore said. The Boston Marathon runs through Wellesley on April 20.

Whittemore and other town departments and groups are celebrating a successful e-bike safety campaign. He said calls about e-bike concerns dropped off significantly in September after the education push started.

Both the police and fire departments are also celebrating their hiring situations. The police reclassified some jobs, and are beefing up their IT personnel. There are two police officer openings, and recruiting has begun to encourage people to take an exam this spring.

A firefighter just graduated from the academy, and Mortarelli said he’s helpful he’ll be bringing four new firefighters before the Select Board soon to fill out his roster. Wellesley Fire attracted a big showing for its most recently offered exam.

The department has made major strides with software updates, including for an automated alerting system that’s now live.

The other big news from the Fire Department is that its newest engine has arrived.

We do our part for public safety, too. Thousands turn to The Swellesley Report daily to keep current on Wellesley:

 

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Crowdfunding campaign supports Needham family that lost daughter in house fire

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The Wellesley Fire Department was among nine units that provided mutual aid to the Needham Fire Department early on Christmas Eve responding to a devastating house fire that claimed the life of a 21-year-old woman.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to support the family in the wake of the death of Kayla Corrigan, a Syracuse University student, and the loss of the family home and belongings. More than 2,300 donations have been made to date.

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Wellesley Fire Department rescues deer from icy Lake Waban

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deer on lake waban
Wellesley Police photos

 
The Wellesley Fire Department on Friday morning rescued a deer stuck on the ice at Lake Waban, and following the roughly hour-long rescue, the animal was transferred to the town’s animal control officer for monitoring. A person walking the trails called in about the deer’s predicament.

Fire Chief Steve Mortarelli said emergency personnel had to walk a ways in to the lake from 99 Pond Rd. to locate the distressed deer, toward the Rte. 16 side of the lake about 40 yards out.

Fire personnel axed through ice to get to the deer, which was having trouble with traction and was exhausted. They used a catch pole to get ahold of the deer and help it up a steep embankment.

deer on lake waban

As might be obvious, the partially icy lake is not safe to traverse.

(Whether the deer chose to cross the ice so as not to trespass on the now closed section of the Lake Waban trail we cannot say.)

Fortunately, the Fire Department has yet to deal with any dog or owner rescues in area bodies of water, but it’s early in the season.

deer on lake waban

 
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Future of Wellesley fire stations: Easy as 1, 2, (3?)

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Select Board hears fire station update, plus approves Pond Road conservation restriction, names Boston Marathon bib charity organizations, hears from public on MassBay plans

 
Wellesley has two fire stations, a nearly 100-year-old one in the middle of town (est. 1928), and another that’s probably older than most think on Rte. 9 (est. 1988). The town is working on a master plan to figure out what the future should hold for the Fire Department, taking into consideration possible growing needs for public safety in parts of town where more housing is being built.

The Select Board heard an update this past week on an emerging master plan from fire personnel as well as a consulting firm (the presentation can be found attached to the Select Board’s Dec. 2 agenda and viewed via the Wellesley Media recording of the meeting about an hour-and-a-half in).

An earlier update was presented to the Board on Oct. 7, and included findings that Wellesley is lacking in fire station space—the Wellesley Square one, for example, can’t accommodate large modern vehicles (see summary in meeting minutes). Upgrades are also needed to make the stations safer for firefighters, such as for removing contaminants from their gear after calls, and make space flexible enough to accommodate equipment that might become essential in the future.

Consultant Context’s Jeff Shaw led the presentation, which included reviews of response time and operational analysis, as well as laying out possible station sites and configurations.

Wellesley Fire’s current response time, just over 4 minutes for 90% of incidents, is considered very good. Call volumes have increased each of the last 10 years (except for 2020 at the height of the pandemic), and the largest number of calls come from the college campuses, multi-family residences, and medical facilities.

fire call volume
 
Call volumes are expected to continue growing, especially as more development comes online on the eastern side of town (the Nines and other new housing units, including possibly across from MassBay). So more Fire Department resources would be needed, according to the consultancy, and demand would be dictated in part by the nature of developments (assisted living vs. condos, for example) .

One finding, not surprisingly, is that a third station, or sub-station, might someday be needed. Call volume and response time data based on fire industry safety standards could trigger such a need.

“In a master planning context we want to be careful about saying something is needed, because it may not be needed today, it might be needed down the road…,” Shaw said. The plan would provide the town with a mechanism for tracking fire services demand in a way that would warn it about when new resources might be required.

Fire Chief Steve Mortarelli said the Master Plan is looking 20 or 30 years out, but also focuses on immediate needs, like shortcomings of the Wellesley Square station that will require a new one being built.

Board members raised questions about assumptions the Master Plan team is making about potential population growth and necessary fire services.

Select Board member Beth Sullivan Woods said she was encouraged by the response times based on current locations and wondered if renovations at them could support even increased call volume. Indeed, that would be among the scenarios explored.

The master plan working group has developed scenarios that could involve some mix of renovating station 2 (Rte. 9), rebuilding station 1 (Wellesley Square), and adding a substation on the eastern side of town. Some scenarios would require swing space, and all would look to balance allocation of engines and ladder trucks to best serve the community. All look to relocate headquarters from Rte. 9 to the west side of town, possibly at an expanded Wellesley Square station.

The idea of a third station is daunting in terms of cost, especially in light of property taxes continuing to soar and a raft of capital projects in the wings (a Town-wide Capital Planning Committee is in the works to address such projects).

Board member Tom Ulfelder asked about whether the Fire Station Master Plan is being coordinated with the Department of Public Works Campus Master Plan, also set to come before the Select Board. “I just don’t think that we’re using Municipal Way efficiently,” he said referring to the property that currently is home to the Fire Station, Municipal Light Plant, and DPW. “I can’t imagine we’re having two parallel studies taking place without a significant interaction between them so that one doesn’t preclude the best use for the other.”

Shaw said the two uses have been discussed repeatedly during working group meetings. Glenn Remick, project manager for the Facilities & Management Department, concurred, and said no scenarios are off the table yet.

Ulfelder earlier in the meeting stressed the town’s fiscal responsibility to be certain of any potential need to acquire land or invest in new stations. Proactive steps, such as working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, for example, could be explored to address traffic challenges at William Street, where The Nines is located.

The Master Plan team will be coming back to the Select Board in the future with a ranking of sites and configurations, as well as information on timelines and costs for different scenarios.

Board Chair Marjorie Freiman thanked the team for its work.

“If we’ve learned anything from the last 20 years it’s that you have to think ahead for your facilities needs…,” she said. “It would be really nice if everything was going to stay exactly the way it is today, but we know that that’s just magical thinking.”
 

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Also at the meeting:

  • The Board voted to stick with a single property tax rate (See “Wellesley property tax rate falls, bills to rise”). That rate’s down, but because of rising property values, tax bills continue to rise.
  • The Board approved a conservation restriction for 50 Pond Rd., a roughly 2-acre Hunnewell family property valued at more than $2m. The restriction, held by Wellesley Conservation Land Trust, ensures additional protected space along one of the town’s most scenic roads. Select Board member Colette Aufranc pursued whether it might be possible for public access on this land adjacent to the Sudbury Aqueduct and Hunnewell farm, but the land owner wouldn’t agree to this.
  • The Board voted to approve a slew of non-profits that will receive invitational Boston Marathon bib entries that they can dole out to runners pledging to raise at least $5k. A handful of bibs also go to town public safety employees and those running for the town’s War Memorial Scholarship Fund. The non-profits selected: Community Fund for Wellesley, Community Investors, Elizabeth Seton Residence, Friends of the Council on Aging, Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries, Friends of Wellesley METCO, Friends of Wellesley Veterans, Inc., MassBay Community College Foundation, Sustainable Wellesley, Wellesley A Better Chance (ABC), Wellesley Community Children’s Center, Wellesley Education Foundation, Wellesley Food Pantry, Wellesley Friendly Aid, Wellesley Historical Society, Wellesley Neighbors, Wellesley Scholarship Foundation, Wellesley War Memorial Scholarship Fund,  and World of Wellesley.
  • A series of residents opened the meeting during the Citizen Speak portion to share their opposition to state plans to declare MassBay forest property as surplus. The board also received kudos for exploring possible legal action. Wellesley Trails Committee Chair Ezra Englebardt said the group will lead a walk at the MassBay Forest and adjoining Centennial Reservation on Dec. 13 at 10am, leaving from the MassBay parking lot on Oakland Street.

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