The evening of October 8, 1988 found a Northeaster striking Cape Cod with heavy rains, high winds and colder-than-normal temperatures. Roads were covered with wet, slick leaves. The temperature was 33 degrees.

At 11:18 PM, the West Barnstable Fire Department was dispatched to a motor vehicle accident near the junction of Route 6 and Route 132. Upon arrival, the West Barnstable Firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians found a car rolled over with two injured persons. At 11:44 PM, West Barnstable Call Firefighter/EMT Paul R. Caron, using the two-way radio in his private car, signed on the air responding to the accident from his home on Old County Road, East Sandwich.

At 11:55 PM, while still attending to the original accident scene, the West Barnstable Fire Department was notified of a second motor vehicle accident near the intersection of Main Street and Maple Street. On arrival at this second accident, West Barnstable Firefighters found Firefighter Paul Caron trapped in the wreck of his Saab. He had crashed into a large tree. Paul was not breathing and had no pulse.

Firefighters from West Barnstable, Sandwich and Hyannis worked to free Firefighter Caron from the wreckage using the Jaws of Life. Paul was transported to Cape Cod Hospital in a Sandwich Fire Department Ambulance and attended to by Sandwich and Hyannis Paramedics. Paul was pronounced dead at 1:11 AM on Sunday, October 9, 1988.

Firefighter Paul R. Caron was chief safety officer for the Boston Water & Sewer Department, a call firefighter with the Sandwich Fire Department and a call firefighter with the West Barnstable Fire Department. He was a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard, 102nd Fighter Interceptor Wing at Otis Air Force Base.

Firefighter Caron was posthumously awarded his EMT-Paramedic Certification. He was 43 years old at the time of his death. Paul is resting at the Glenwood Cemetery in South Natick, Massachusetts.