WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA - The first night of Christmas yielded neither Partridge nor Pair Tree for the on duty shift of the West Springfield Fire Department, though, to be fair there, were probably a couple of tree stumps somewhere near the bottom of the pile.

Just as members were sitting down to dinner on December 25th, Fire Alarm received 911 calls for smoke in the area of the K&W Materials handling facility on Palmer Avenue. This private contractor receives both bulk and yard waste from the general public while also allowing West Springfield residents to dispose of their yard waste for free upon proof of residency in town. Because of this, there are several large piles of mulch and yard waste on the property, and it was one of these two-story-high piles that was the cause of the smoke.

Upon arrival, companies had a deep-seated fire in a pile that was roughly 30-feet-wide by 25-feet-high and almost 50-feet-long. This fire would prove to be the first test of the department's recently repaired 2007 ALF 100-ft. rear-mount tower, which had just returned to service a week prior after waiting eight months for parts to be fabricated to fix an electrical issue with the main aerial ladder. While the old tower performed well, the real problem the on duty members faced was the weak hydrant pressure from the closest hydrant. The hydrant supplied barely enough water for Ladder 1 to flow one of its two master streams. This resulted in a six hour long operation to extinguish the fire. Crews did not return to quarters until 1:30 A.M on 12/26/24. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.