Westport Firefighters fought a house fire this Fourth of July on Drift Rd. The fire was reported around 0900. First arriving firefighters found heavy smoke pouring from the eves of the one story home. Firefighters made entry into the home and found heavy fire in the kitchen area extending into the attic space. Firefighters began to conduct a primary search to find any victims. Firefighters with the aid of a thermal image camera found a female semi-concious in her bedroom. The interior of the home, including the bedroom the victim was found in was full of smoke resulting in zero visibilty, the female was disoriented and with the help of firefighters was removed from the building to safety. The victim was extremely fortunate, as minutes later the home quickly became well involved with fire. The roof eventually collapsed into the home. Westport was aided by firefighters from Tiverton and Dartmouth. The home was a total loss. The female was transported to an area hospital and was in stable condition. Firefighters were on the scene for most of the day.

A basement fire struck B & E Country store on Sanford Rd around 2230 hours, causing extensive structural damage to the floor joyces of the first floor. On arrival firefighters found heavy smoke coming from the eves of the building. The first floor also had heavy smoke damage. Firefighters from the South End station were on a medical call, leaving Station One empty at the time of the call due to budget cuts. Firefighters found themselves operating in the basement, one of the most dangerous places for a fire to occur in a structure. Three Firefighters advanced a hoseline under heavy smoke conditions, zero visibilty, and high heat. In the initial phase of the attack there was very little manpower on the scene, and crews were multi-tasking, thankfully there were no civilains inside the building. Crews operating in the basement had very poor radio communications, due to an ongoing radio problem, and after several attempts to request a vent of  basement windows via the radio, the crews were forced to evacuate the building and give the ventilation orders face to face with the IC. This slowed down efforts to put the fire out, not to mention if the crew was in trouble no one would have heard their mayday calls. After venting the building, crews reentered the structure, and quickly put the fire out. Mutual aid was recieved from Dartmouth Fire District 3, as well as Tiverton Fire. The suspicious fire, remains under investigation.

Lt. John Andrade has served the Fire Department since 1969, and after 42 years, he is retiring. He has served the Fire Deparment with dedication and pride over the years. Lt. Andrade is the E911 coordinator for the Department and has worked hard promoting the Enhanced 911 service in town. He  made it his top priority to have homes and businesses properly marked, to ensure a quick response when a call for help is made. Lt. Andrade has decided to retire a bit earlier than originally planned, but due to budget restraints he feels it is in the best interest of the Department and Town to retire this July. We know this wasn't an easy decision, we wish him well, and thank him for his service.