False alarm at pond
Published on July 2nd, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - Stoneham Firefighters and the Massachusetts State Police searched for a woman who had reportedly submerged in Spot Pond last week. The report is now considered unfounded.
At 8:14 pm last Wednesday night, Stoneham emergency personnel received a cellular 911 call transferred by the Massachusetts State Police from a mountain biker who claimed to have seen a woman and her dog disappear under the waters of the reservoir.
"We had a call for a person in the water. Supposedly, somebody witnessed it and saw the woman and the dog go under the water and not come back up again," recalled Stoneham Firefighter Capt. Jim McGlaughlin, who responded to the scene with the Stoneham dive team.
According to Massachusetts State Police Sgt. David Paine, after requestioning the witness who reported the incident, some credibility issues arose about her story.
"There was no woman in the water and there was some question about the credibility of the person who filed the report," explained Paine.
Although Stoneham Firefighters were unable to question the witness, a Portuguese woman who experienced difficulty communicating with emergency personnel, they were brought to a cove near the Half-Mile Road, a dirt pathway that runs along the pond.
Within a half-hour of receiving the call, a search boat manned by two Stoneham firefighters with handheld lights and three members of the Stoneham dive team combed the waters approximately 50 feet from the shoreline.
After conducting an initial and secondary search of the area for over two hours, officials called off the search. Because no missing person report has been filed since the incident, rescue officials now consider the matter unfounded.
"We had an incident last year when somebody drowned so we can't take (these calls) lightly. We have to do a diligent primary and secondary search. There was no missing persons reported the next day or the following days," said Stoneham Fire Chief Lawrence Lamey.
According to McGlaughlin, the incident marked the second time that day Stoneham firefighters responded to a call reporting a swimmer in need of assistance.
"We had two incidents down at the lake that day. The first call was around noon time. There were a couple of kids swimming out to the island and the caller reported they might have been in trouble swimming back. By the time we got there, the kids were back on shore," explained McGlaughlin.
According to the Fire Captain, with the lack of an alternate swimming site such as the MDC pool, kids are now swarming several reservoirs around the area.
"I'll tell you, this was an extremely hot day and there were kids all over that pond. This is one of the side-effects of closing the pools down because the kids are going to swim somewhere else," commented McGlaughlin. "There's two or three other reservoirs the kids are swimming out at and no one knows what's going on up there until someone reports it," he added.
Saying that Stoneham firefighters must take their own safety into account before charging into a scene, Lamey expressed his satisfaction with the quick response time of his men.
"When somebody's thrashing in the water, you're going to go get him, you don't hesitate. But when it's in deep water and you need specialized equipment, you try to maintain a level of safety for the divers," Lamey said.
The Stoneham Dive team is made up of six members. Stoneham Dive Team members Matt Grafton, Michael O'Sullivan and Sgt. Albert Minotti all responded to the scene on Wednesday night.
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