Chief: Quincy fire calls lower than normal in '22

Quincy Fire chief Mike Sherman is not sure why, but since January, the frequency of fire calls has dipped.

"We had 21 fire calls and three medical assists," he told the fire board Thursday. "All those fires were building fires. We're down 57 calls from this time last year. It's significant."

He has no idea why.

The most recent call was a fire at Preston Farms milking barn Aug. 5 on East Central Road.

"Fire was detected early, and the crew got after it right away," Sherman said. "We were able to do a good job chasing the fire through the walls. Then we stopped it."

The milking barn and the equipment, except for a few motors and electrical service, were saved. Assistant chief Rodney Bailey said the cause was electrical.

The large dairy farm was able to call in help and got back to milking the large herd within four hours, Sherman said.

Firefighters have used the extra downtime for equipment maintenance.

That was evident in the recent required yearly test of all the department's two miles of firehose.

"We have 10,575 feet of hose. All that passed this year, which is the first time I think that's ever happened," Sherman said. "We really stepped up our maintenance and care. We're making sure that it gets cleaned and properly stored. And nobody's running over it."

The chief made a pitch to his board for more.

"We don't have a very big stockpile, so if we have a big fire, we use a bunch," he said.

If expenses remain low at the end of the budget year, he suggests the purchase of more hose to put in reserve.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Quincy fire calls down from 2021