Worcester State Hospital Ablaze

Yesterday's five-alarm at Worcester State Hospital fire fell one alarm short of an all-out, general call.

While some fire departments strike seven and even eight alarms for major fires, six alarms is the maximum in Worcester, according to Deputy Fire Chief Frank Kolaczyk. A one-alarm fire brings four engines, two ladders and a rescue squad to the scene. Each subsequent alarm brings two additional engines, Kolaczyk said, and fourth and fifth alarms usually bring off-duty shifts and mutual aid from surrounding towns.

Kolaczyk said each engine usually is manned by four or five firefighters, although in the summer months staffing may be lighter, due to vacations and sick leave.

"Regardless of the staffing levels, we would have had to use mutual aid for this fire because it was so gigantic," Kolaczyk said.

This article was published by Telegram & Gazette, page A7 on Sunday, June 23rd 1991 and NOT owned by nor affiliated with opacity.us, but are recorded here solely for educational use. The photographs featured in the article are randomly selected from the Worcester State Hospital galleries on opacity.us unless noted otherwise; they may not directly relate to the article subject matter except for the site location - any other relation is purely coincidental.