WEST NEWBURY — Chief Michael Dwyer issues the following statement on behalf of the West Newbury Fire Department:
“This has been a sad day for our community and for our first responders. Our firefighters, along with West Newbury police officers and Atlantic Ambulance personnel responded to a call for a critically injured young child, found unresponsive in a pond. Tragically, and despite the best efforts of our highly trained medical personnel, we later learned that the child did not survive.
“Immediately after returning from the call, the entire fire crew was taken out of service, and the firefighters and ambulance crew underwent a critical incident debriefing protocol.
“We live among a group of extraordinarily tight-knit communities here in the Merrimack Valley, and I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the Groveland Fire Department and Newbury/Byfield Fire Rescue who left their families on Easter Sunday, to cover our fire station and protect our citizens.
“On behalf of the entire community, I offer my heartfelt sympathies to the family involved in today’s tragedy.”
Responders were call to the scene at approximately 12:45 p.m. on Easter Sunday. Early reports have labeled the incident as an accident.
